Video captures Hong Kong lawmaker stabbing - BBC News
China blasts Hong Kong protesters as ‘mobsters’ after pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho attacked
8 November 2019 10:25
AFP
China has slammed radical protesters in Hong Kong as “mobsters” using violence to influence upcoming local elections, after a pro-Beijing lawmaker was injured in a stabbing.
The international finance hub has been shaken by five months of huge and increasingly violent protests calling for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Xu Luying, spokeswoman for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China’s central government. Photo: Screenshot.
With Beijing and Hong Kong’s unpopular leader Carrie Lam refusing to offer a political solution to the protesters’ grievances, violence has spiralled on both sides of the ideological divide.
In the latest incident, a man holding a bouquet approached pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho on Wednesday morning as the politician was campaigning in his constituency near the border with China.
The attack was “not only a serious criminal act but also pure election violence,” Xu Luying, spokeswoman for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China’s central government, said Thursday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Xu said radical protesters in Hong Kong “intend to create a ‘chilling effect’ by threatening and intimidating their candidates and their supporters”, in order to “affect the election results of the district councils and realise their purpose of seizing political power”.
Photo: Studio Incendo.
Xu also called for “strong punishment” against violence in Hong Kong and for a “fair, just, safe and orderly environment” for the district elections, set to be held on November 24.
In October, democracy activist Joshua Wong was barred from contesting a seat in the upcoming polls.
An election officer had ruled that the concept of self-determination advocated by Wong’s party, Demosisto, contradicted the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
HONG KONG LAW & CRIME POLITICS & PROTEST
Hong Kong pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho discharged from hospital following knife attack
8 November 2019 17:11 Kris Cheng2 min read
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Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho was discharged from hospital on Friday following a knife attack earlier in the week.
Ho, who is running in the District Council election on November 24, was campaigning near Richland Garden in Tuen Mun on Wednesday when a man approached him and thanked him for his work before stabbing him in the chest. The lawmaker said he was left with a wound approximately one and a half centimetres long and one centimetre deep
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Junius Ho
Pro-Beijing lawmakers visiting Junius Ho at hospital room. Photo: Elizabeth Quat/Facebook.
Upon discharge, Ho was escorted out by police officers in a wheelchair, wearing a surgical mask. He made an “OK” gesture with his hand to reporters while leaving, according to RTHK.
He also told reporters that he would resume his campaigning activities soon.
An Apple Daily report cited an anonymous source as saying that Ho was given priority for an operation at the hospital after his position on the waiting list lept from 21 to four. The source accused the lawmaker of queue jumping. Asked about the allegation, Ho declined to comment.
Tung Pak-fai, 30, appeared at Fanling Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning accused of attacking Ho. Tung has been charged with attempted murder.
The case has been adjourned till February 3, 2020. Tung has been remanded in custody.
Ho has come under fire after he was filmed praising a group of white-clad men outside Yuen Long MTR station on the night of a mob attack against civilians nearby. At least 45 people were injured on July 21 when rod-wielding assailants, dressed in white, launched a violent assault on those passing through the station. At least eleven have been arrested in connection with the incident, with some confirmed to have triad backgrounds.
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