Suspect held over beating after clash with restaurant smokers

Police arrested a 51-year-old man over an assault on a group of celebrities and academics after they called on diners at a North Point restaurant to stop smoking.

Veteran Diaoyu Islands activist Or Wah, who was badly beaten in the attack, said the Tobacco Control Office hotline had failed to provide any assistance over the incident because it was answered by an automatic message machine.

The arrest was made yesterday afternoon in North Point. The suspect is a local resident, although the attackers reportedly spoke Putonghua in the restaurant.

Mr Or, his wife and seven friends - including barrister Wong Hin-lee and journalism professor Leung Tin-wai - were dining at Fung Shing Restaurant on Monday when they asked eight men at an adjacent table to put out their cigarettes.

After the smokers responded with threats and profanities, Mr Leung and Mr Or complained to restaurant staff and called the Tobacco Control Office. But warnings to the table were ignored and the office phone was only taking messages.

The smokers left the restaurant, but returned shortly after with two more men. They attacked Mr Or and the Wongs with chairs and glasses, leaving the two men bleeding heavily and the woman with a swollen arm.

Mr Or later had 16 stitches in hospital. Mr Leung, a former tabloid magazine editor who had his left hand severed in a 1996 attack at his office, was not injured.