Hong Kong democracy voice Jimmy Lai’s home firebombed

HONG Kong’s most prominent independent media executive Jimmy Lai has had his home and office firebombed.

Outspoken Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s home was firebombed yesterday.

HONG Kong’s most prominent independent media executive Jimmy Lai has had his home and office firebombed, allegedly for his support of the Occupy Central campaign for democracy.

It was reported that two men, who hid their faces with surgical masks, threw a petrol bomb at Mr Lai’s house early yesterday morning before targeting his office.

The explosives are understood to not have caused major damage at either premises, with security guards and fire officers extinguishing flames before they took hold.

The attacks were denounced by Hong Kong pro-democracy and pro-Beijing legislative ­councillors.

Police are searching for the two men after finding two cars believed to have been involved in the attack abandoned near the Next Media headquarters, the company controlled by Mr Lai for nearly 25 years.

Mr Lai stepped down as chairman after he was arrested in ­December during the Occupy Central Admiralty clear-out by police.

He had camped at the spot for nearly three months and became a figurehead during the protests, ­especially as a more senior Hong Konger voice among the student leaders.

His newspaper, the Apple Daily, is considered one of the most independent publications in the Chinese territory and is highly critical of the mainland central Beijing government.

Publisher Ip Yut-kin yesterday said the newspaper would not back down in its fight for democracy. Next Media spokesman Mark Simon said the attack was clearly politically motivated.

“This is a continued effort to try and intimidate the press in Hong Kong,” he said. “This is raw and pure intimidation.”

Mr Lai told TheWall Street Journal that he was not hurt in the attacks, which were not the first personal threats he had received.

“I am fine. I am not scared,” he said.

“These things always happen. They are only provocations. I’m not bothered by them anymore.”

Pro-Beijing legislative councillor Regina Ip said while she did not agree with Apple Daily’s editorial stance, a politically motivated attack should not be tolerated in Hong Kong.

Mr Lai, yet to appear in court again over his arrest last month, received minor injuries when police used teargas to disperse protesters on September 28, triggering Occupy Central.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr Lai said he believed that the arrests would not hurt the democracy campaign.

He began Next Media a year after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the group has dozens of publications across Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Additional reporting: Agencies