Firebombers hit Lais home, office The home of Jimmy Lai and Next Media headquarters were firebombed simultaneously early yesterday in separate attacks believed to be politically motivated. The attacks on Lais home in Ho Man Tin and Next Media in Tseung Kwan O about 1.30am were captured on CCTV. Footage shows a man - with his face and head hidden behind a surgical mask and under what is believed to be a hoodie - getting out of a silver vehicle outside Lais home on Kadoorie Avenue before lighting a homemade Molotov cocktail and lobbing it at the foot of the gates. The bomb exploded as it hit the ground and the man ran back to the car and sped away. A security guard used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. CCTV footage also captured a red car pulling up outside Next Media headquarters on Chun Ying Street in Tseung Kwan O at around the same time. Firebombs were thrown at the main and cargo entrances. Both cars were later found torched in Cheung Sha Wan. The silver car was found in Tai Woh Ping Road at around 1.52am and the red car in Tonkin Street West at 2.24am. The East Kowloon Regional Crime Unit is investigating. Apple Daily publisher and editor- in-chief Ip Yut-kin said the attacks are politically motivated and related to the pro-democracy stance of the paper. These attacks were terrible and clearly aimed at Next Media, he said after visiting Lai. The people responsible were brazen in their actions and knew CCTV would record the whole process. It may be that the papers s tance in supporting democracy and freedom led to the attacks because some people may not like this. This is not the first time Next Media has been attacked and Apple Daily will continue to run as normal. He said Next Media will step up its security measures. Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said yesterdays violence cannot be tolerated. Whoever the victims or targets are, whatever their social status or political background or stance, it cannot be tolerated and such violence should be condemned, he said. I believe that, just like other criminal cases, the police will be fully dedicated to investigating it. If there are any arrests and enough evidence, the Department of Justice will handle it based on the law just like other cases. People should not resort to violent means. Lai and Next Media have long been the targets of attacks. In November, Lai was pelted with rotten animal organs at the Admiralty Occupy protest site. He stepped down as chairman and executive director last month after being arrested during the police clearance of the Admiralty protest zone. This is the third time Lais home has been firebombed by unknown assailants in the past 20 years. One of the attacks was on his previous home in Tai Po in 1993. In June 2013, a man rammed a stolen car into the front gate of Lais residence before placing an axe and knife on the driveway. A week later, a delivery van was intercepted by two masked men in Hung Hom. They torched bundles of Apple Daily before fleeing. In July 2013, three masked men threatened two workers with knives at Edinburgh Place in Central before setting 26,000 copies of the newspaper alight.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:50:41 +0000
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