News
4th Acid Attack in Hong Kong’s Bustling Mong Kok District in less then 12 Months
A neighbourhood near one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping districts reports its fourth acid attack since December 2008. According to news reports, on September 6th 2009 11 people suffered from acid burns after a man threw acid openly at shoppers in the bustling Mong Kok district. The attack was aimed at a couple who the police believe had quarrelled with the perpetrator only moments before the attack. The worst hit was a man in his 50’s, a shop vendor, who the perpetrator (a male himself, currently under-arrest) accused of having an affair with his wife. Pulling a bottle from his bag the acid was thrown in such a manner that the vendor’s wife was also burnt, as were 9 nearby shoppers.
The Mong Kok neighbourhood in the Southern Chinese territory is a haven for shoppers of clothes and electronics. Within its 4.4 square mile patch of shops and food stalls, a total of 4 attacks have taken place within ten months, resulting in some 100 people left injured. Although the cases are so far believed to be unrelated, one similarity which runs through them all is the vast number of innocent passers-by who as a result are left to suffer from minor-to-severe acid burn injuries.
In December 2008, 46 people were left injured after bottles of acid were hurled deliberately from a building on to a crowd of shoppers, on what was a busy Saturday afternoon.
In May 2009, again 14 women and 16 men suffered from burns to their legs, arms and faces after two bottles of acid poured down into crowds of shoppers just like the incident six months prior.
The third attack took place one month later on June 8th. As with the two reported incidents before it, an unidentified person deliberately hurled a bottle of acid from a building over the pedestrians below. 24 people were injured including a four-year-old girl.
As the number of attacks increase in the neighbourhood, so has the fear amongst its regular shoppers and passers-by, leaving quite the ‘Go fourth at your own Risk’ impression on the place. Despite local authorities installing security camera in the district, no one has as of yet been arrested for the earlier three attacks. The Police have however posted a 100,000 Hong Kong Dollar reward £8,000) for information leading to an arrest. This reward was later increased to 300,000 Hong Kong Dollars. If convicted, perpetrators would be charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm which holds a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Chinese Criminal Law.
Acid attacks are not new in China and neither are the incidents in the Mong Kok districts the first. In December 1996 the most famous acid violence case emerged from China when Yang Yuxia from Shanghai was executed after she poured sulphuric acid on her lover’s eight-year-old daughter and his wife, in retaliation of her lover refusing to get a divorce and marrying her. The young girl suffered from 20% burns and is now permanently blind. Last November 2008, a woman aged 30 from Putuo district, was followed home by a man who suddenly poured acid over her head. She was helped by a local shopkeeper who washed the acid away with water before she was rushed to hospital.
Four attacks in less then twelve months in the exact same location is an alarming problem to say the least. In the past ten months, with a combined figure of over 100 people injured in one district, there is scope to believe that the number of acid-burn casualties in China is far exceeding that of Bangladesh.
If anyone has any further information regarding acid violence in China, or any further developments on the cases mentioned in this article, please leave your comments below as we would be very interested in hearing from you.
Posted on September 30th 2009 by Test Member in Blog
