Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta (Nov 21). An off-duty police officer was slashed in the face in Hong Kong as he tried to arrest a suspect on Thursday (Nov 21) morning. The suspect marked a 10cm cross on the sergeant’s face with the razor at around 6.15am in Sheung Shui.
The officer was trying to detain 72-year-old man accused of damaging a banner of a district council election candidate in Sheung Shui. The banner belonged to district councillor Liu Hing-hung, who is running as an incumbent in the Fung Tsui constituency.
Liu, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, is up against independent pan-democrat Chiang Man-ching.
The source said: “The sergeant was on the way to work this morning and passed by the Junior Police Call club house in Sheung Shui Wai. He arrested a male for attempting to damage an election banner of the pro-establishment camp by razor. The suspect struggled and attacked the sergeant.”
Both the officer and the suspect were sent to the nearby North District Hospital for treatment. An investigation is under way. The suspect arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and assaulting a police officer.
The protests, now in their sixth month, have led to the arrest of 4,491 people, the youngest aged 11. It could be that this suspect who is more than 70 years old is the oldest.
Masked radicals have besieged roads, set fires on streets, vandalized MTR stations, businesses and banks, and occupied universities. Mobs have attacked police officers at the front line, hurling petrol bombs and bricks, and shooting at them with bows and arrows.
Earlier this week Hong Kong police officer was injured in the leg by an arrow from the protesters. Police said the arrow hit the officer in the calf and he was taken to the hospital. The photo on the department’s Facebook page shows arrows sticking out from the back of the officer’s feet through pants.
Before, a police officer was slashed in the neck by a protester near Kwun Tong MTR station on October 13. The incident took place when officers were looking into a case of criminal damage at the MTR station.
Video footage from Ming Pao showed a team of officers about to enter Kwun Tong MTR station, as a man came up from behind and jabbed a sharp object – similar to a box cutter – towards the neck of one of the officers. Two people were arrested on the scene. The injured officer was sent to United Christian Hospital in a conscious state.
A police source said that the officer had sustained a 3cm cut to his neck, and that the attack was “one of the worst” when seen “in terms of malice, in terms of an attempt to kill the officer.”
Increasing violence also happened on 4 October. After blocking public roads, vandalizing MTR stations and Pro-Beijing business spots, some furious protesters also assaulted ‘plain-clothed’ police officers in Yuen Long district.
According to AppleDaily report, it was all started when the officer suspected of having bumped into a person, and was surrounded by protesters. The video shows the police officer did nothing until a black-clad protester attacked him from behind and the other started to beat him up. The white-shirt officer use his phone to call for help saying: “I’ve been beaten, come help me!”
