Localist figure Edward Leung Tin-kei was involved in a scuffle inside Tai Koo MTR station on Saturday night with a man who he called a “paparazzo” from a pro-Beijing newspaper.
A video obtained by Next Media showed Leung exchanging insults with a man wearing a grey shirt at the MTR station concourse around 11:00pm. Both were being held back by station assistants. Leung alleged that the man worked for Ta Kung Pao, a pro-Beijing daily newspaper in Hong Kong.
When Leung began filming the man with a mobile phone, the man – standing several metres away – cried that he had been “beaten up by Leung.” As the pair drew closer, the man seized Leung’s phone and hurled it away. They then aimed several punches at each other before being separated by station assistants.
Speaking on an online talk show, Leung claimed that the man had been following him and taking photographs of him on the street. The man allegedly provoked Leung by commenting on his family members, and threatening to reveal their personal details to the public. Leung said he believed that the man provoked him in order to cause a reaction, as he was otherwise unable to find any derogatory information on him to report.
A spokesperson of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous, Leung also alleged last week that two men working for “grandpa” – slang for China’s Central Government or the Communist Party – had been following him for a month. When asked which department, one of them said “a newspaper”.
The police received a report of a fight at the Tai Koo MTR station on Saturday night, but have not made any arrests, according to Apple Daily.
Originally founded in 1902 in Tianjin, Ta Kung Pao is now owned by the China Liaison Office. Its website – unlike those of most other Hong Kong media outlets – is accessible in mainland China. The newspaper has not publicly responded to Leung’s allegations so far.
