Hong Kong airport protest: how a terrifying night unfolded as demonstrators turned on mainland Chinese men and fought police
- Previously peaceful demonstrations at terminal descended into acrimony on fifth day as protesters tried to prevent passengers from reaching departure gates
- Two mainlanders accosted by protesters, beaten, bound and denied medical treatment before being ferried onto ambulances
Winfred Leung, 18, arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on Tuesday at 9.30pm after finishing work at his summer job for a logistics firm.
Just inside the doors of the departure hall, the student, who is starting university in September, found a crowd of people surrounding a man they accused of being a mainland Chinese police officer.
Later, after 11pm, he and other protesters identified a second man who they felt was acting suspiciously. He was wearing a fluorescent vest of the sort worn by the press and was speaking English with a Mandarin accent.
“We politely asked him what media organisation he was working with but he wouldn’t tell us,” Leung said. “A few became emotional and tied him up.”
The protesters became outraged when, having ransacked his bag, they found a light-blue T-shirt with the slogan “I love Hong Kong police”, documents showing he was from Tianjin and working in the media.
They searched his name online and believed he was working for the Chinese state tabloid Global Times. They then started beating him, with the man heard in a recording of the incident asking them to go ahead and hit him.