Emergency services were called to a Lennon Wall in Sha Tin in the early hours of this morning after it was apparently set alight by an unknown person.
Two pillars outside one of the exits of the Sha Tin Wai MTR station had been transformed into one of the many displays of colorful Post-It notes and fliers bearing messages of support for pro-democracy protesters that have cropped up all over the city amid weeks of unrest. The Sha Tin displays were also covered with a protective plastic film.
In the early hours of this morning, after the Hong Kong Observatory lowered the T8 storm signal to a T3, fire services received a report of a fire at the station, but by the time they arrived the fire had been extinguished. No one was injured, Apple Daily reports.
Photos from the scene show one of the pillars badly scorched, with the remnants of charred fliers still clinging to it.
After a preliminary investigation, police and firefighters ruled the cause of the fire suspicious and are now looking into it.
According to Apple Daily, this is at least the sixth case of arson or attempted arson at a Lennon Wall since July 11, when a man tried to set a display ablaze in Aberdeen, but was stopped by bystanders.
Other reported cases of Lennon Walls being set on fire have been reported in Fanling, Sai Wan Ho, Chai Wan, and Sau Mau Ping.
The Lennon Wall concept, which has its origins in 1980s Prague, first arrived in Hong Kong during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. Now, with massive protests sparked by a deeply loathed extradition bill again rocking the city, the walls are back, cropping up all over town, along walkways, on footbridges, and even in the front window of a claw machine arcade.
They have also been focal points for conflicts, with arguments and fights at times breaking out between critics of the protest movement and the pro-democracy volunteers manning the walls.
