Trio throws rotten animal organs at Next Media chairman Jimmy Lai in Admiralty
Five people were arrested last night after media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was struck in the face with stinky animal organs in an ambush at Occupy Central in Admiralty yesterday.
Five people were arrested last night after media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying was struck in the face with stinky animal organs in an ambush at Occupy Central in Admiralty yesterday.
Three men, speaking in Cantonese with a local accent, swore at the Next Media founder and told him to "drop dead", witnesses said. They were later arrested over common assault and fighting.
Two marshals at the protest site were also arrested for alleged fighting after trying to stop attackers. They were released on bail on Thursday morning.
Witnesses said three attackers threw a few bags of animal organs at Lai's head. "They did not appear to be amateurs, hitting him right in the face from six feet away," said Ma Kee, an Occupy volunteer who saw the attack as it happened at about 4.30pm outside Lai's tent on Harcourt Road, near the main stage. "He was covered in the stinking organs afterwards."
Scuffles broke out as dozens of protesters tried to catch the attackers, Ma said. The men were said to have been bound by plastic straps before being handed over to police. One of them was sent to hospital after suffering scratches to his head.
"We recognise one of them as the man who threw eggs at Long Hair [Leung Kwok-hung] earlier," said Alex Kwok Siu-kit, one of the two arrested marshals at the Admiralty site.
Kwok, a union leader, said today he and the other marshal felt angry about their arrest. “We are witnesses and victims but we have become suspects."
Before the attack, two women were scouting the area near Lai's tent, Kwok said. "They left after taking pictures. Two men then came up to [Leung's attacker] with the bags" and all three assaulted Lai. The tycoon later asked Kwok to help find a pair of glasses he lost in the attack.
Pan-democrats today accused police of being biased towards Occupy protestors.
“Was it because the attackers were anti-Occupy, so the police had to arrest Occupy protestors as well to show their neutrality?” Democratic Party leader Albert Ho Chun-Yan questioned.
