The court also endorsed a seven-year sentence imposed on defendant Tang Wai-sum for “damaging the rule of law”, given his substantive role in the attack.

Wednesday’s ruling followed the first substantive inquiry by the appellate court into the nature and gravity of one of the most divisive chapters of the protests.

More than 100 men in white, many of them armed with rattan and wooden sticks, stormed the railway station and injured at least 45 people, arguing they were protecting their homes from “invading” protesters.

Defendants Wong Ying-kit and Lam Koon-leung, both 53, and Lam Kai-ming, 48, either abandoned their appeal bids or had not lodged one.

Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong, who wrote Wednesday’s judgment on behalf of the appellate court, endorsed the observation of trial judge Eddie Yip Chor-man that the white-clad group had displaced the role of law enforcement through their actions.

“In more formal terms, what [the white-clad men] did was rendering the law nugatory and damaging the rule of law,” Pang wrote.

He agreed the men in white were the ones instigating violence outside the MTR station and during subsequent assaults inside the facility in the early hours of July 22, but noted their black-clad victims were not free of fault either.

Pang pointed out the black-clad group did not merely “suffer in silence” during a conflict at the nearby Ying Lung Wai village, hurling curses at their attackers and trying to resist their advances.

“Not only did they retaliate verbally, they did so physically as well, so much so that people can hardly tell from the visual evidence which side initiated the fight,” he said.

Pang said the trial judge erred in asking Choi to make certain body gestures in court to assist prosecutors’ identification of an assailant captured on video.

He added that the evidence against Choi was not so overwhelming that anyone would convict him despite the judge’s error.

On the other hand, the appellate court found Wong’s acquittal based on possible misidentification to be “perverse” without full consideration of incriminating circumstantial evidence.

The judges dismissed the other three appellants’ contentions they had either intended to calm the situation, acted in self-defence or were mere onlookers.

Wong was told to return to the District Court in mid-October for the trial judge to reconsider the verdict.

Of the seven men jailed, all but Tang Wai-sum have completed their sentences. Tang is expected to be eligible for early release in early 2026.