Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Stabbed in Hong Kong

An anti-government supporter stabbed and wounded a pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker who was campaigning for local elections Wednesday, police said, marking another escalation in five months of protests demanding political reforms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The government condemned the attack against Junius Ho and said police arrested the assailant, the AP reports. A police official says Ho, his assistant, and the attacker were hospitalized. Ho told reporters after an initial treatment that the stab left a minor wound less than an inch deep and was blocked by his rib cage.

A video circulating on social media showed a young man giving flowers to Ho before asking permission to snap a picture with him. Instead, he drew a knife from his bag and stabbed Ho's chest but was quickly overpowered by Ho and several others. The man kept hurling abuses at Ho, calling him "human scum." Ho has become a hate figure in the protest movement over his alleged links with armed masked men in white T-shirts who violently attacked passengers at a subway station in Yuen Long on July 21. Ho was seen shaking hands with some of the attackers that night. In another bloody incident Sunday night, a knife-wielding man believed to be a Beijing supporter slashed two people after an argument and bit off part of a local politician's ear.

(More Hong Kong stories.)