[Graphic images] The convenor of Hong Kong’s Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) has been attacked by unidentified men with hammers in Kowloon.
Jimmy Sham was attacked on Arran Lane in Tai Kok Tsui by four to five people as he was en route to a CHRF meeting in Mong Kok on Tuesday, the Front said. Police said that the assault occurred at around 7:30pm, and the victim was bleeding from his head and arms. He was taken to Kwong Wah Hospital for treatment.
The Front’s Eric Lai confirmed with HKFP that a picture which appeared to show a bloodied Sham was genuine.
[Breaking News] The Civil Human Rights Front convenor, Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, has just been attacked again! Jimmy Sham was on his way towards a meeting in Mong Kok and was attacked by around 4-5 people with hammers, causing bleeding head injuries….
— Civil Human Rights Front 民間人權陣線 (@chrf_hk) October 16, 2019
His colleague Figo Chan condemned the attack: “During the attack, bystanders tried to save [Sham], but the assailants threatened them to stop them from doing so… When Jimmy Sham was taken onto the ambulance, he told me: ‘five demands, not one less’.”
“Don’t think that you can do anything to stop us from going out onto the streets, and fighting for freedom and human rights.”
He added that Sham had suffered no damage to his bones or brain.
The incident comes just weeks after Sham was assaulted by masked men wielding a baseball bat and knife in Jordan.
Legislator Tanya Chan, who was outside Kwong Wah Hospital on Wednesday, said that Sham’s previous assailants have still not been arrested as she urged the authorities to investigate,
Strong condemnation
The CHRF has organised huge protests during the summer against an extradition bill that would have enabled extraditions to China. They estimate that up to two million people marched at the height of the protests, now in their 19th week.
Jimmy Sham was taken to Yaumatei’s Kwong Wah Hospital on Wednesday evening, a short distance from the scene of the attack in Mong Kok.
In full: https://t.co/I0uhWsBEOg
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— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) October 16, 2019
“The Civil Human Rights Front strongly condemns the acts of the perpetrators. It is not hard to link this incident to a spreading political terror in order to threaten and inhibit the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights,” the Front said in a statement.
Sham is also a candidate for the Sha Tin District Council’s Lek Yuen constituency, replacing Raphael Wong.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Front rejected Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address, saying it did not respond directly to the five core demands from the protesters: “We believe that it is highly unrealistic for her to quell public grievances towards police brutality by only pushing out minor repairs to society within her policy address,” the group said in a statement.
Though the extradition bill has been withdrawn, demonstrators are demanding a fully independent probe into police behaviour, amnesty for those arrested, universal suffrage and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
The group has applied for police permission to organise a protest in Tsim Sha Tsui this Sunday.
Last week, two candidates running for the upcoming District Council election were assaulted whilst they were out canvassing in their districts.
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