Video of a Chinese office worker being punched by a Hong Kong democracy supporter as a crowd chanted “go home” has caused outrage in China, highlighting widening polarization in the territory.
Footage shot by both reporters and protesters showed a white-shirted man being punched repeatedly outside the entrance to JPMorgan by a single masked protester on the sidelines of a rally in Hong Kong’s commercial district on Friday.
Bloomberg News reported that the man worked for the US bank, which said it was boosting security outside its offices in an internal memo sent to staff.
It is not clear how the altercation started. Footage begins with the man, who speaks Mandarin, surrounded by media photographers as an angry crowd chants “go back to the mainland.”
He makes his way through the press scrum to the door of his office building before turning to the crowd and shouting: “We are all Chinese.” Shortly after a masked man punches him multiple times, knocking off his glasses.
The clip has gone viral in China, where news about Hong Kong is strictly censored.
One version of the video on the Weibo platform describing the attacked JP Morgan worker as “very brave” had received more than 11.2 million views and 91,000 “likes” by yesterday morning.
Comments were filled with anger toward Hong Kongers.
“Just because he speaks Mandarin and thinks ‘we are all Chinese,’ why should he be punched and have his glasses knocked off?” asked one commentator under the name Aubrey.
“You have to pull up the roots [of Hong Kong] and leave nothing behind. They have had enough tolerance,” another added.
Some comments hit out at a photographer who appeared to block the door to the office to take pictures.
Chinese state media focuses on the worst excesses of the violence while downplaying, or blocking, the popular public anger in Hong Kong toward Beijing.
Authorities also remove viral videos on social media that are sympathetic to the protests, but tend to allow footage that reflects poorly on the pro-democracy movement.
In the early days of the protests, fights were rare, but on June 21 a mob of Beijing supporters wielding sticks attacked protesters in the town of Yuen Long, hospitalizing more than 40 people.
Other attacks by Beijing supporters occurred in the district of North Point, while democracy supporters assaulted two men accused of being Chinese spies during an airport sit-in in August.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS