A Hong Kong police officer who was stabbed in the back has been moved from critical to serious condition, officials said yesterday, indicating a likely recovery from the incident in which the assailant later stabbed himself and died.
Authorities were still looking into the motivation behind Thursday night’s attack, which followed annual commemorations of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese control in 1997, as well as the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
The attack came amid a sweeping crackdown on political dissent, with authorities banning large-scale demonstrations and arresting scores of democracy advocates over the past year.
Photo: Reuters
Authorities said that the assailant was a 50-year-old man, but did not identify him. He allegedly stabbed the police officer in the back with a knife, and then turned the knife on himself.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang (鄧炳強) said it appeared to be a “terrorist act” committed by a single individual that he described as a “lone wolf,” but said others were guilty of egging on such violence.
“I would like to state that it was not just the assailant who was responsible. There are also many people who have encouraged violence and incited hatred toward society and the country, and have beautified these violent acts,” he said.
Photo: AFP
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) said it was “very regrettable that this has come at a time when everyone in Hong Kong sets great store by the peaceful situation we have achieved.”
The officer was attacked outside a Sogo department store in the busy Causeway Bay shopping district, where police were standing guard to prevent demonstrations.
Michael Gazeley, a Hong Kong resident who was at the scene when the attack happened, said that there was heavy police presence in the shopping district, and that the situation seemed “peaceful” before the attack happened.
“As soon as the attack happened, a mass of police ran to help their colleague,” Gazeley said.
The Hong Kong Hospital Authority confirmed the improvement in the condition of officer, who has not been identified apart from that he was a 28-year-old member of the elite Police Tactical Unit.
Hong Kong has protected the identities of police officers since the onset of increasingly violent demonstrations in 2019, led by pro-democracy protesters opposed to the region’s Beijing-backed government.
Separately yesterday, lawyer Chow Hang Tung (鄒幸彤) — known for helping to organize the annual June 4 candlelight vigils in commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre — was charged with inciting others to join an unauthorized assembly.
Chow was first arrested on June 4 and then released on bail, but was rearrested this week a day ahead of the handover anniversary. She was denied bail.
Large-scale independent political gatherings have been banned and most opposition figures have been imprisoned, intimidated into silence or fled abroad.
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