Police are on the hunt for two masked men who threw molotov cocktails at a restaurant in Kowloon that has openly supported the city’s police force during the ongoing protests.
According to HK01, two men dressed in black on Lai Chi Kok Road in Sham Shui Po at around 2am approached a restaurant called Sichuan La Mei Zi — or “Sichuan spicy girl” — and threw at least two molotov cocktails into the restaurant, one of which did not break.
There were only a couple of customers in the restaurant at the time, neither of whom were injured, and the restaurant’s owner, surnamed Chan, called the police.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found some scorch marks on the restaurant’s floor and the unbroken molotov cocktail.
No arrests have so far been made, and police are treating the case as attempted arson.
The outlet reports that the restaurant had been labelled a “blue business,” a term used to describe pro-Beijing or pro-police establishments, after the owner reportedly made comments on his personal social media supporting the police, and posted a photo of himself with former Chief Executive C.Y. Leung, who has actively sought to identify and prosecute protesters.
The restaurant seems to have first appeared on protesters’ radar after unsubstantiated rumors began circulating that it had “harbored attackers” following an incident on Christmas Eve that saw a group of three masked men and two women attack protesters on Tong Mi Road in Mong Kok with an axe, a box cutter, and a wooden stick, Apple Daily reports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVGHThfp5RM
Four people were sent to hospital after sustaining wounds in the incident, and the attackers fled to a restaurant, with the online rumor mill identifying Chan’s establishment as the one in question.
When police arrived to investigate the attack, no arrests were made, leading some online commenters to blame Chan.
Chan and his wife later gave an interview with pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po, saying he had no knowledge of the incident, adding that a fight did break out between some of his customers on that evening, but it wasn’t related to the protests.
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