Controversial pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho has been taken to hospital after he was apparently stabbed while canvassing in Tuen Mun.
Ho, who’s running in the Lok Tsui constituency in Tuen Mun, was attacked near Richland Garden Mall at about 8am today, HK01 reports.
#BREAKING: Lawmaker Julius Ho claimed he got stabbed by a middle-aged man in election campaign outside Pierhead Garden, Tuen Mun. Crowds kind of cheered though. His contestants inc. Cary Lo from Democratic Party. pic.twitter.com/H6BXUKyIzi
— Galileo Cheng (@galileocheng) November 6, 2019
In video posted onto Global Times’ Twitter account, a man with a blue shirt and cap can be seen approaching Ho with a bouquet of flowers.
The man in blue can be heard saying “Everyone can see you’re working so hard,” before shaking Ho’s hand and handing him the flowers.
The man in blue then begins to reach into his bag, saying, “Do you mind if I–” to which Ho responds “Take a picture?”
The man says “yes,” and when Ho agrees, the assailant quickly pulls out a knife from his bag and thrusts it at Ho’s chest before being tackled.
Video: A video shows that a man in blue stabbed #HK legislator Junius Ho in the chest. pic.twitter.com/OA04VUd4n5
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) November 6, 2019
A total of three people were injured at the scene, including Ho and the assailant. The suspect was subdued and arrested at the scene.
According to RTHK, Ho told reporters at Tuen Mun Hospital that he sustained a two-centimeter-deep wound near his rib cage and that it was just a “superficial wound,” adding “fortunately it [the sharp object] only hit my rib cage.”
Pro-Beijing lawmakers gathered at the Legislative Council this morning to condemn the attack, maintining it was linked to district council elections, with Wong Kwok-kin from the Federation of Trade Unions even saying video of the attack was “so dramatic, it was like watching a movie.”
Starry Lee, chair of the largest pro-Beijing party, the DAB, said they would speak to the government to seek assurances that the district council elections, which take place on Sunday, Nov. 24, are run peacefully and safely.
Ho has been an especially vocal critic of the city’s pro-democracy protesters, often in his characteristically abrasive style, and is particularly loathed in pro-dem circles after being filmed glad-handing men suspected of taking part in the mob attacks at Yuen Long MTR in July.
However, Ho’s not the only district councillor candidate to have been attacked in recent weeks.
Other candidates that have been attacked in recent weeks include pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham — the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, the organization behind many peaceful rallies that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in the last few months. Sham was attacked with hammers by a group of masked men as he was on his way to a meeting in Kowloon.
Others who have been attacked include pro-dem district council candidate Jocelyn Chau, who was assaulted while canvassing in North Point; fellow pro-dem candidate Leung Hoi-ching, who was similarly attacked while canvassing in Kwun Tong; pro-democracy lawmaker Roy Kwong, who was dragged out of his car by three men and kicked as he lay on the ground; and district councillor Andrew Chiu, who had his ear bitten off while subduing a man who attacked pro-democracy protesters with a knife.
