Epoch Times journalist ‘attacked by bat-wielding man’

A Hong Kong reporter with a newspaper that is critical of Beijing said on Tuesday that she had been attacked by a baseball bat-wielding man near her home in Ho Man Tin.

The alleged assault on the Epoch Times journalist came almost exactly a month after the publication’s printing presses were ransacked by a gang of men with sledgehammers.

Reporter Sarah Liang said the assailant jumped out of a black Mercedes-Benz and repeatedly hit her legs with the bat, moments after she walked out of her residential block on Good Shepherd Street at around 11:30am on Tuesday.

“The attack lasted for around a minute before the assailant got back into the car and fled the scene,” she said.

“There were multiple bruises on my legs.”

Epoch Times is linked to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is banned on the mainland.

Liang said she believes the Chinese Communist Party orchestrated the attack, and said she had reported the incident to the police.

The journalist added that Chief Executive Carrie Lam should keep an eye on the case.

“Lam said Hong Kong is safer with the national security law. But has Hong Kong really become safer?” Liang questioned.

In a statement, the Journalists Association condemned the attack and called on the force to conduct an in-depth investigation.

It stressed that violence against journalists is not acceptable, adding that it will provide all necessary assistance to the affected journalist.