Hong Kong police investigate acid attacks

A bottle of acid thrown into a crowd in one of Hong Kong’s most densely populated shopping districts injured 24 pedestrians, police said today, the third in a series of attacks that have injured nearly 100 people.

The latest attack on Monday night dominated the headlines in Hong Kong, with several newspapers showing photos of victims washing off the acid on the roadside.

Police said a bottle filled with a corrosive liquid was hurled into a crowd in the busy Mong Kok district on Monday, injuring 24 people. None of the victims, aged four to 49, were seriously burned.

It is the third such attack in six months in the neighbourhood.

On the same street last month, 30 people suffered burns when two plastic bottles filled with acid were thrown into a crowd. Another 46 were injured in a similar attack in the same neighbourhood in December.

Mong Kok, which means “busy corner” in Chinese, is a shopping hot spot that attracts thousands of locals and tourists, but the latest attacks have scared some shoppers away.

“I thought the attack would be stopped, but it happened again,” one of the victims surnamed Leung was quoted as saying in Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Daily News. “I always go to Mong Kok, but from now on I’ll never go to that area again.”

Leung suffered burns on her neck and back, according to Ming Pao.

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang also condemned the attacks, saying it was “cold blooded and evil” and that the assailant was “scum of the society”.

Investigators have posted a 900,000 Hong Kong dollar (€83,000) reward for information leading to an arrest. If caught, the assailant could be charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment upon conviction, Leung said earlier.