This archive report was first published on 11 November 2019.
On Monday, November 11, 2019, a disturbing video emerged showing a man in a green t-shirt being attacked by a masked individual in Ma On Shan, a district in the northern part of Hong Kong.
The footage, which has not been verified by AFP but was picked up by Chinese state media, shows the man in green arguing with a group of people on a footbridge before a masked man dressed in black throws a liquid over him and sets him ablaze.
As the victim frantically tries to remove his t-shirt, the crowd scatters in panic. The incident has left the man in critical condition, according to a spokeswoman for the Hospital Authority, who stated that he had been admitted to Prince Wales Hospital.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that they had received a report on the incident and were investigating. The Global Times tabloid uploaded one of the videos to Twitter, a social media platform banned on the mainland, with the caption: "Black-clad rioters in #HongKong set a resident on fire in Ma On Shan on Monday, Hong Kong police confirmed with the Global Times."
The phrase "Black-clad rioters" is commonly used by Chinese media to describe pro-democracy protesters. The argument that sparked the attack is unclear, but the expletive-laden conversation shows the man in green criticising people sympathetic to Hong Kong's democracy movement, and his opponents berating him back.
At one point, the man in green can be heard saying "none of you are Chinese," while one of his opponents shouts "Go back to the Greater Bay Area," the name for a nearby region of the Chinese mainland across the border from Hong Kong.
