JANUARY 12, 2015 1:16 AM January 12, 2015 1:16 am
Security video of a firebomb thrown at Next Media offices Monday in Hong Kong.
Assailants threw firebombs at a pro-democracy Hong Kong media outlet and at the home of its owner early Monday, heightening concerns about threats to press freedom.
Later Monday morning, a police sergeant fired his gun at a van that ran over his leg during an investigation of suspected theft of newspapers from a newsstand, a Hong Kong police spokesman told reporters. The sergeant had climbed into the van, but he was thrown out, and the vehicle ran over his leg, the police said. He is being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The sergeant fired as many as four shots, the police spokesman said. It is rare for police officers to discharge their weapons in Hong Kong, where personal firearms are highly restricted. The police would not say whether the altercation with a man and young woman in the van was connected to the attack on the headquarters of the Next Media Group and the home of its owner and founder, Jimmy Lai. Apple Daily, a newspaper owned by Next Media, reported that its newspapers had been targeted in the alleged theft attempt.
Apple Daily has been a vocal advocate of the recent demonstrations for expanded democracy in Hong Kong. Mr. Lai frequently attended the protests, which saw several main thoroughfares occupied for more than two months. He was arrested and released in December when the authorities dismantled the main camp in the Admiralty neighborhood. Mr. Lai has also been under investigation by Hong Kong’s anticorruption agency in connection with donations to the pro-democracy camp.
Mark Simon, an aide to Mr. Lai, said the firebombs caused no injuries or significant property damage, but he considered them an escalation of violence and “an attack on dissident voices.”
