A Hong Kong court on Friday convicted five people of rioting and wounding while acquitting another over their roles in an indiscriminate mob attack in a Yuen Long railroad station in 2019.

The five — Wong Ying-kit, Tang Wai-sum, Ng Wai-nam, Tang Ying-bun and Choi Lap-kin — were found guilty in District Court for taking part in the mob attack on July 21 that year.

They were among a group of white-clad assailants who used iron rods and wooden sticks to beat passersby in Yuen Long MTR station, the court heard earlier.

A sixth defendant, Wong Chi-wing, was acquitted of the charges after video footage could not confirm that he had been at the scene.

In his verdict on Friday, Judge Eddie Yip rejected Wong Ying-kit’s earlier argument that he was only passing the station that day. Wong had encouraged others to join the riot by shouting and pointing fingers at people dressed in black while turning a blind eye to actions by those in white, the judge said.

Yip dismissed Wong’s claims that pro-democracy legislator Lam Cheuk-ting had been “stirring up trouble” in the station. Footage showed that Lam had been comforting commuters at the scene instead, the judge said.

The judge also rejected claims by Tang that he had carried a wooden club inside the train station solely for self-defense. Even though Tang was not shown to have attacked people, the fact that he was holding the club on a platform showed that he had encouraged others to do so.

Yip also said Ng’s argument that he acted as a mediator that day was unreasonable. The judge said that, contrary to his claims, Ng had snatched a rod from another attacker and used it to hit black-clad people.

Two other defendants, Lam Koon-leung and Lam Kai-ming, had earlier pleaded guilty.

The court will hear mitigation for the seven on July 13 and 14, and sentences will be handed down on July 22.

The Yuen Long attack took place at the height of protests against the government’s now-withdrawn extradition bill. Protesters, most wearing black clothing, held demonstrations across the city at the time to demand officials shelve the bill, launch an independent probe into the police’s handling of protests and implement universal suffrage.