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HK Immigration Officials Stabbed in Critical Condition
Seven victims of a violent attack at Hong Kong's immigration headquarters were in critical condition early Thursday morning suffering from up to 60 percent burns, according to Chinadaily report.
They were among dozens of people with serious burns after a group of mainland protesters demanding the right to live in Hong Kong assaulted immigration officers with firebombs on Wednesday.
In the fracas, a total of 46 people - 38 men and eight women, aged between 17 and 43 years old - were injured. The victims included 23 immigration employees, a government spokesman said later.
Seven of the injured were in critical condition, 11 serious, seven stable and six satisfactory, while 15 others were treated and discharged.
The violence has led to territory-wide condemnation, with Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa describing it as "brutal" and "totally unacceptable to us" after visiting the injured officers at Eastern Hospital.
He called on abode-seekers from the mainland not to harbor "unrealistic expectations" to remain in Hong Kong.
"We will execute the court's ruling," he warned.
The group involved in the protest have repeatedly seen their appeals to remain in Hong Kong overturned by the courts.
C.C. Lau, in charge of accidents and emergencies at the Eastern Hospital in Chaiwan, said many victims suffered 15 to 60 per cent burns.
The violence flared after about 20 protesters entered an office on the 13th floor of the Immigration Tower in Hong Kong's Wanchai district at around 4:00 pm and demanded to be granted Hong Kong right of abode.
The protesters were asked to leave at around 6:00 pm, Hong Kong Director of Immigration Ambrose Lee Siu-Kwong told reporters at the scene.
When they refused, some of the protesters lit bottles containing flammable liquid and exploded them, injuring immigration workers and some demonstrators, Lee said.
Three immigration staff were injured "seriously", he said. "I feel very sorry and very sad for my staff."
The same group of protesters had staged a sit-in at his office about 17 times during the last three months to demand right of abode in the SAR.
The injured were ferried to three hospitals after the blaze, which was extinguished shortly after the sprinkler's system was activated.
A police spokesman said the regional crime unit has taken up the case for investigation.
Regina Ip, secretary for security, said the government was "shocked and angered by the irrational actions of the abode seekers", and vowed to prosecute those responsible for the carnage.
"We reserve the right to take criminal action against those who have broken the law," said Ip. "We will not cave in to pressure of any form in dealing with their claims" of right of abode, said Ip.
Jiang Enzhu, director of the Central Government Liaison Office in the SAR, yesterday expressed his sympathies to the injured immigration officers.
The director said that he was "shocked and very concerned about such acts of violence as setting fires inside the immigration headquarters".
Wang Fengchao, deputy director of the Liaison Office, conveyed Jiang's message to Regina Ip.
Two deputy directors of the office, Zheng Guoxiong and Gao Siren, visited and expressed their sympathies to the injured immigration officers at Queen Mary Hospital and Eastern Hospital.
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