A pro-democracy candidate running in the upcoming district council elections was sent to the hospital last night after being attacked last night.
Leung Hoi-ching — an accountant by training, and the convenor for a pro-democracy community organization called Kwun Tong Future — is campaigning on a pledge to use her accountancy skills to keep tabs on government spending in Kwun Tong and to make sure money is used on projects and resources local residents need.
She officially announced her candidacy for the Kwun Tong district council elections on Tuesday morning, saying that she felt driven to run after seeing so much change in Hong Kong since June, the month the extradition bill protests began in earnest.
At around 9pm last night, however, a member of Leung’s team posted on her Facebook page saying she had been attacked and sent to hospital.
According to Apple Daily, eyewitnesses told Leung’s team that they saw her canvassing on her own near a playground on Yuet Wah Street at 8pm last night when a bald middle-aged man with a green shirt appeared and struck Leung on the back of her head with an unidentified object and then fled.
After the attack, Leung went home, saying there wasn’t an obvious wound or any bleeding, but later decided to call an ambulance after feeling dizzy and vomiting upon returning to her apartment less than an hour later. The newspaper reports she had to undergo a brain scan.
According to HK01, Leung will be facing a pretty difficult election given that the Kwun Tong District Council is considered a pro-China “red district.” The council has 37 members, of whom 28 are pro-Beijing.
The Kwun Tong District Council pan-democrats issued a joint statement last night calling the attack “an act of white terror,” adding that it was outrageous that people who wanted to help the community were repaid by being attacked.
Police confirmed they received a report of an attack against a 25-year-old female at 10pm on Tuesday night, but so far no one has been arrested.
The nomination period for November’s district council elections ends on Oct. 17. So far, one of the most high-profile candidates to throw their hat into the ring is Joshua Wong. The pro-democracy activist announced his intention to run as district councillor for South Horizons West on the fifth anniversary of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, SCMP reports.
