HONG KONG – Hong Kong police said yesterday that a man was set alight following a heated argument with radical anti-government protesters during a day of widespread clashes across the city, as videos of the brutal attack went viral online.
Three videos were posted on messaging channels used by protesters showing a middle-aged man in a green T-shirt arguing with protesters on a footbridge.
A masked man dressed in black then throws a liquid over the man and sets him ablaze as crowds scatter. Flames engulf the man’s T-shirt and shoes and part of the ground of a pedestrian footbridge. The victim frantically tries to remove his T-shirt
“In the most shocking incident, some rioters poured flammable liquid onto a person and set him on fire,” Hong Kong police spokesman John Tse Chun-chung told reporters at a press conference as the social media videos of the attack were played on a screen.
“The man has been admitted to hospital in critical condition.”
The incident took place in the northern area of Ma On Shan, around 20 kilometres from the central business district, he said.
It came during a tense day in Hong Kong, which has been engulfed for more than five months by increasingly violent protests, rioting, arson attacks and vandalism.
Tse said shortly before the attack, masked protesters had trashed the nearby Ma On Shan railway station and investigators believe the man “chased the rioters”.
“Afterwards he was beaten up and set on fire,” Tse said.
A hospital authority spokeswoman said a man with burns had been admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital, the closest facility to Ma On Shan.
The Global Times newspaper uploaded one of the clips to Twitter with the caption: “Black-clad rioters in #HongKong set a resident on fire in Ma On Shan on Monday, Hong Kong police confirmed with the Global Times.”
What sparked the argument is unclear, but the expletive-laden conversation shows the man in green criticising the protesters, and his opponents berating him back.
At one point the man in green can be heard shouting at the young protesters that that they are not Chinese, and that they are actually British.
One of his opponents shouts: “Go back to the Greater Bay Area”.
Informed sources told Hong Kong media last night that the man was in a critical condition.
Also yesterday a police officer shot a masked protester in an incident shown live on Facebook. – AFP, RTHK, MPD
This video grab shows a liquid thrown at the victim and then having been set alight by a protester in Hong Kong yesterday morning. Courtesy Sina
