2015-01-12
This screen grab of CCTV camera footage shows a security guard (bottom R) looking on as a firebomb (R) explodes after an unidentified person (L) wearing a mask threw it towards Jimmy Lai’s home in Hong Kong, Jan. 12, 2015.
AFP PHOTO / South China Morning Post (SCMP)
Arson attacks against the home and newspaper offices of Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai on Monday sparked renewed fears for press freedom in the semiautonomous Chinese city following a string of attacks on outspoken media figures in recent years.
Unidentified attackers tossed petrol bombs outside two entrances of the Next Media offices in Hong Kong, and at Lai’s luxury home on Hong Kong’s Kadoorie Avenue in the early hours of Monday, his own newspaper reported.
The website of Lai’s flagship Apple Daily newspaper showed clips from its own security camera footage, in which masked men throw a flaming bottle at Lai’s mansion gates, and outside the main entrance of Next Media’s headquarters, before driving away in a car.
In the footage from Lai’s home, an explosion is seen as the bottle hits the ground.
A spokesman for Next Media, which owns the Apple Daily, said the attacks, which resulted in no casualties, were politically motivated.
“Violence and intimidation seem to be the ongoing currency for those opposed to democracy and free press. There is no other plausible explanation here,” Next Media spokesman Mark Simon told Agence France-Presse.
“Anti-democratic forces in Hong Kong keep resorting to violence,” he said. Lai reportedly went back to bed after being told what happened, and was unaffected by the attacks.
Apple Daily editor-in-chief Ip Yut-kin said the group will step up security measures following the attacks.
“Actually, we are pretty frightened, but I know that my colleagues will weather this,” Ip told RFA on Monday.
“Naturally I condemn this violence, and call on people to behave in a more civilized manner,” he said, adding: “We will probably be hiring more security guards now.”
Senior Next Media union official Choi Yuen-kwooi said employees would likely take the attacks in stride. “This isn’t the first time; previously, we were besieged in our headquarters [by a crowd of pro-Beijing activists],” he said. “We are used to weathering a storm.”
Lai, 66, who founded Next Media, resigned from his positions as chairman and executive director after being arrested during police clearances of the 79-day occupation of Admiralty district by protesters campaigning for fully democratic elections.
Lai had made no secret of his public support for the “Umbrella Movement,” that began on Sept. 28 and brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets at its peak, and said he was resigning to spend more time with his family and to concentrate on his “personal interests.”
‘Threat to press freedom’
The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association (HKJA) said Monday’s attacks represent a “threat to press freedom.”
“When the attackers threw those firebombs, they weren’t just targeting Jimmy Lai,” HKJA spokeswoman Shum Yee-lan told RFA. “Next Media is one of the most influential news organizations in Hong Kong.”
“This attack … is a threat to press freedom in Hong Kong, and the HKJA condemns such violence in the strongest terms,” she said.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Frederick Fung agreed. “There have been a series of incidents targeting Next Media, which has a very different viewpoint to the government,” he said. “How is this not connected [to press freedom]?”
He called on Hong Kong people to stand up in support of the territory’s traditional freedoms.
