Post date: Mar 19, 2014 3:49:17 PM
Two executives at a newspaper that is due to start publishing later this year are beaten by four men wielding metal bars, causing injuries requiring hospital treatment.
HONG KONG, CHINA (MARCH 19, 2014) (ATV) - Two senior executives at a Hong Kong newspaper that is due to start printing later this year were beaten by masked men wielding metal bars on Wednesday (March 19) afternoon.
The four men wearing caps, surgical masks and gloves attacked Hong Kong Morning News Media Group Limited's vice president and director Lei Iun-han (pron: Lay Yun-han) and senior executive Lam Kin-ming, according to local newspaper South China Morning Post.Executives suffered from non-life threatening injuries to their limbs. No arrests have been made so far.
Footage from local television ATV showed Lei on a wheelchair. She refused to comment on the attack.
The Hong Kong Morning News' organizers issued a statement last month to fight accusations that it was pro-government and backed by Beijing, according to local reports.
Hong Kong Journalists Association condemned the attack in a statement, stressing the city would not tolerate any violence.
This is the second attack on media workers in four weeks in Hong Kong.
Kevin Lau, until recently chief editor of Ming Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper known for its investigative reports, was stabbed in the back and legs several times on February 26. The assailant rode off on a motorcycle with an accomplice.
A total of 11 people were arrested in the case, including two 37-year-old men who were charged on Wednesday after being arrested on Monday (March 17) in the southern Guangdong province in China.
The stabbing sparked a protest with thousands of people voicing support for press freedom in the former British colony.