Pro-Beijing lawmaker stabbed in Hong Kong
A firebrand pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kong was stabbed by a man pretending to be a supporter yesterday, the latest tit-for-tat political violence in a city engulfed by seething pro-democracy protests.
The attack came as the Hong Kong’s unpopular leader Carrie Lam said her resolve to crack down on the protesters had been bolstered by a recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Yesterday, she condemned the stabbing at a press briefing in Beijing and said regardless of political stand, “any violent action... should not be tolerated by any civilised society”.
The international finance hub has been convulsed by five months of huge and increasingly violent protests calling for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
With Beijing and 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 yesterday morning as the politician was campaigning in his constituency near the border with China.
Footage posted online showed the man handing Ho the flowers and asking for a picture. He then pulled a knife from his bag before striking Ho in the chest.
Police said three people were wounded in the incident, including the attacker, who was subdued by Ho and his aides as he shouted in Cantonese: “Junius Ho, you scum!”
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