Tsang condemns 'outrageous' acid attack during inspection of scene

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen condemned the acid attack on Saturday in Causeway Bay that injured six, including two seriously, as outrageous, but said it was difficult to arrest the perpetrator.

Tsang briefly inspected the scene of the attack at about 11.30am yesterday. He then went up to the roof of the old tenement building from which investigators believe the two bottles were thrown.

Afterwards he said: 'The perpetrator chose a crowded place... It is outrageous. But I understand that it is not easy to catch a perpetrator who throws objects from height.'

He said police had been told to do their best to catch the attacker.

The attack occurred just after 10pm on Saturday in the pedestrian area behind the Sogo department store. Police believe the bottles of corrosive liquid were thrown from a five-storey tenement building at 541-543 Lockhart Road. The seriously injured man and woman remained in Queen Mary Hospital, Pok Fu Lam, in stable condition. Four injured women were released from hospital.

Police believe the acid attack, the seventh in a year but the first on Hong Kong Island, is linked to the three attacks in Mong Kok and will investigate the cases together. The similarities include choosing old buildings above pedestrian areas for an attack on a crowded street.

The first of the acid attacks took place on December 13 last year, when 46 people suffered acid burns in Mong Kok.