Hong Kong Police Officer Stabbed in Lone-Wolf Attack

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam denounced the stabbing of a police officer in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay as the city marked a tense anniversary of its return to China’s rule.

"This action clearly goes against the stability of our society and is against the law,” said Lam.

Video of the attack at about 10 p.m. Thursday shows a man in a gray shirt with a black backpack coming up behind a uniformed officer on a street in the Causeway Bay area and apparently thrusting a knife into his back. The officer stumbles away and the man flees.

The 50-year-old attacker died in the hospital at 11:20 p.m. of a self-inflicted chest wound, the government said in a statement. The officer was in serious condition as of 9 a.m. Friday, according to a government spokesperson.

A knife was recovered at the scene, the government said, and the incident is being investigated as an attempted murder and suicide.

“I strongly condemn the attack,” Lam said in a press conference just after she returned from Beijing where she attended a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping. “Police will fully investigate the case and see if there is any organization behind it.”

Security Secretary Chris Tang seemed to rule out the possibility that any group was behind the stabbing, in a briefing just afterward, describing it as a “lone wolf-style terrorist attack.”

The incident happened on the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from the U.K. and about a year after Beijing imposed a broad national security law on the former British colony that has been used to silence pro-democracy activists. The city deployed some 10,000 police officers to discourage protests on the day that China’s ruling Communist Party was celebrating its 100th anniversary.

There were other signs of discontent in Hong Kong on the public holiday. Police said in a tweet that flammable objects were thrown at the Government House, where the city’s leaders traditionally reside. Police said they “strongly condemn such blatant acts” and pledged to hold those responsible accountable.

The police force also shut Victoria Park, which has been a site of major protests, and searched activists who attempted to gather in nearby Causeway Bay. Officers warned people that they risked arrest by participating in unauthorized assemblies after officials earlier refused applications for protesters to hold demonstrations, citing coronavirus concerns.

Nineteen people had been arrested as of 10 p.m. Thursday for acts including possession of weapons, insulting the national flag and obstructing officers, police said.

Earlier this week, Lam vowed to press ahead with an unprecedented national security crackdown on the Asian financial center. She credited the national security law with eliminating “the pervasive violence and social unrest that created anxiety” in the former British colony, a reference to large protests in the summer of 2019.

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