Police launch manhunt after early morning attack on Hong Kong restaurant chef
- Three masked assailants assault 42-year-old employee of Lung Mun Café in Tsim Sha Tsui with hard objects, glass bottles
- The cafe’s owner last week said on Facebook his chain would quit the yellow economic circle sympathetic to anti-government protests
A chef at a restaurant, which last week distanced itself from Hong Kong’s so-called yellow economic circle was injured in an attack with hard objects and glass bottles outside the shop in Tsim Sha Tsui on Monday, sparking a citywide police search for three masked assailants.
The 42-year-old man, surnamed Wong, was attacked outside the Cameron Road branch of Lung Mun Cafe at 6.38am, 22 minutes before it opened for business.
“The victim was attacked without warning,” a police source said, adding that he believed the man was not wrongly targeted.
‘Yellow economic circle’ takes a hit as protest-friendly shops in Hong Kong back off
According to police, the culprits struck him with hard objects and hurled glass bottles at their victim in the incident that lasted less than a minute.
The attackers fled before police arrived. Officers combed the area, but no arrests were made.
The man, suffering injuries to his head and arms, was sent conscious to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for treatment.
The police source said the victim’s injuries were not life-threatening and officers were investigating the motive behind the attack.
“Officers will try to figure out whether the attack was a personal matter or it was linked to the restaurant business,” he added.
Detectives from the Yau Tsim criminal investigation wing checked surveillance camera footage of the restaurant and nearby shops in an effort to identify the culprits and gather evidence.
Following the attack, a message posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page said: ““If you want to mess with someone, mess with me. Don’t mess with my [workers]!”
Hong Kong national security law official English version
The attack came less than a week after Cheung Chun-kit, the owner of the Lung Mun Cafe chain and a supporter of the protest movement, announced on Facebook last Tuesday that his chain was quitting the so-called yellow economic circle.
