Schoolboy, 16, attacked by elderly man while promoting secondary students' class boycott

A secondary school pupil campaigning for today's class boycott had the loudspeaker he was using shoved in his face by a passer-by yesterday, breaking one of his front teeth.

Chow Kar-ho, 16, said he was speaking through the loudspeaker when the man, who appeared to be in his 60s, lunged at him. Chow was dressed in his school uniform at the time.

"We were really surprised. These people accuse us of being violent but it turns out that they're the violent ones," Chow said of opponents of the students' action. "I'm not afraid of them. In fact, their attack has proved that what we have been doing is effective."

Police said they were looking for a thin man who was wearing a white vest, light-coloured trousers and a pair of grey slippers.

Chow and five schoolmates from the Shatin Tsung Tsin Secondary School were distributing leaflets outside Tai Wai railway station on Mei Tin Road at about 7.40am when the man struck.

The teenager was sent to hospital to have the injury checked but said the pain was minimal.