Hong Kong police arrest four in connection with firebomb attacks at local secondary school
- They are accused of taking part in both planning and carrying out the firebombing, as well as a previous act of vandalism at the school
- Police say that evidence currently suggests the incidents may have been in relation to recent calls for general strikes and class boycotts
Three students and one graduate from a Hong Kong secondary school were arrested over the vandalism and firebombing of the campus entrance in separate incidents, police said on Tuesday.
Three male suspects, aged 16 to 23, were detained by police in a series of raids in Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi between July 24 and Tuesday afternoon, according to Superintendent Lam Chi-yuen, an assistant Kwai Tsing district commander.
Manhunt launched after petrol bomb attack on Hong Kong school
He said the trio were arrested for offences including arson, criminal damage and possession of offensive weapons. Police also said they seized two retractable batons during the raids.
A fourth suspect, an 18-year-old male student, was picked up at his home in Tsing Yi on Tuesday night and was detained for questioning, police said.
Officers are still searching for others in connection with the two attacks on the entrance of Lok Sin Tong Leung Chik Wai Memorial School in Tsing Yi.
A police source said all four were held on suspicion of carrying out the attacks, and planning them.
On the night of May 25, the glass doors at the school entrance were smashed with retractable batons by two assailants. Weeks later, at about 1am on July 24, two black-clad men launched a petrol bomb attack on the same entrance with several gas canisters and glass bottles containing a flammable solution. According to police, no casualties were reported in either case.
Lam said that so far, evidence suggested the vandalism was related to calls for general strikes and class boycotts, which have been issued off and on over the past several months in relation to last year’s anti-government protests and the recent imposition of Hong Kong’s controversial national security law.
National security law: Beijing’s offices in Hong Kong take aim at organisers of class boycotts
“They thought that if they damaged the school entrance, students could not go to school,” he said.
Police arrested the 23-year-old man on July 24, hours after the firebombing. The suspect, a graduate of the school, has been released on bail pending further investigation.
The other two suspects, aged 16 and 18, are current students of the school, and were arrested in two public housing flats in Tsing Yi on Monday and Tuesday.
As of Tuesday night, the three students were still being held for questioning and had not been charged.
The school’s sponsoring body, Lok Sin Tong Benevolent Society Kowloon, declined to comment on the matter, citing the ongoing investigation.
As of June 30, police have arrested 9,216 people in relation to the protests, more than 3,700 of whom were students.
