Masked attackers on Monday targeted the home and Hong Kong offices of a media tycoon who publishes one of the few remaining pro-democracy newspapers in the city, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Media Ltd. and its flagship newspaper Apple Daily, was arrested for participating in the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year and has been a frequent critic of Beijing, which still exercises administrative control over the city. Assailants have repeatedly threatened his residence and business:
In two separate incidents early Monday, men threw gasoline bombs outside Next Media Ltd. headquarters in the Tseung Kwan O area. Around the same time, a masked man in a car pulled up to Mr. Lai’s residence in the upscale Kadoorie Hill area and threw a gasoline bomb at the gate in footage captured by security cameras and uploaded to Apple Daily’s website. No injuries were reported in the attacks.
The attacks aren’t the first against Mr. Lai, whose outspokenness against Beijing has made him the target of violence in the past. One year ago, assailants drove a car into the front gate of his home and left an ax and machete on the driveway. During the recent Occupy protests in Hong Kong, pro-Beijing groups frequently demonstrated outside Apple Daily’s headquarters and printing plant to delay the distribution of newspapers. Apple Daily is the flagship newspaper of Next Media, which Mr. Lai founded, and is one of the top-selling newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Some rights activists fear that Beijing will further trample on press freedoms in Hong Kong as the protest movement from last year subsides. Banks have reportedly revoked their advertisements from Apple Daily in response to pressure from the Chinese mainland.