Man accused of sexually harassing protester vows to sue Occupy leaders and Apple Daily

A restaurant owner accused of sexually harassing a young female protester may try to sue the organisers of Occupy Central.

Raymond Liu Wai-man is already seeking to establish a libel case against a newspaper that he says portrayed him negatively in its report. But his lawyers said on Monday that they had also been collecting evidence to see if it was possible to sue the organisers over losses suffered by Liu’s crab restaurant chain as a result of the protests.

The chain, Hee Kee Crab General, has four branches in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui, which Liu said were all affected by the Occupy protests.

He said he had lost up to 80 per cent of his business – at least HK$500,000.

In widely circulated photographs, the restaurateur is seen clinging to the right leg of a young female protester during a scuffle between pro- and anti-Occupy people in Causeway Bay on Friday.

The young woman, who screamed “harassment” when it happened and cried afterwards, later identified herself as a student at the Academy for Performing Arts.

The Apple Daily published an article the next day headlined “Anti-Occupy Central person arrested for sexually harassing young woman”.