Chow Hiu-tung, a middle-aged Hong Kong man, was still spooked by memories of being beaten up by radical protesters more than a week ago.
An illegal rally on the Hong Kong Island turned ugly again on Sept. 15 as anti-government protesters set fires, threw petrol bombs and assaulted innocent residents. Chow, 49, unfortunately fell victim to the rampant violence.
"I was walking along the Gloucester Road and was just about to take a bus to get home, when I came across with a huge crowd of masked protesters," Chow said, recalling what he encountered in the eventful afternoon. "Some of them waved national flags of the United States and Japan."
The behavior was unforgivable to Chow, a Hong Kong resident, as the city used to be at the hands of the Japanese invaders during World War II. Chow went furious and shouted at them, "Don't you know the nation's shame? Do you know Japan once occupied Hong Kong for three years and eight months?"
The patriotic words vexed the protesters, who immediately besieged him and brutally attacked him. "I quickly passed out and cannot remember too much," Chow said.
A video clip on social media showed that he, in blue shirt, fainted after being surrounded and assaulted by a group of black-clad men, with his face and back in heavy bruises. When the crowd started to leave, a rioter returned and hit him, lying unconscious on the ground, again with an umbrella.
Chow was sent to hospital and was at one point in critical condition. He stayed in hospital for two days and lost three teeth. At least eight people were injured on that day due to the escalated violence.
However, Chow said he had no regrets and would still voice his views in the future.
Representatives of several political groups visited Chow on Monday, promising necessary aid to him, who, making a living by working in a restaurant, is staying at home for recovery.
"What the radicals have done went contrary to what they claimed to pursue," Aron Kwok Wai-keung, a lawmaker and member of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions, said, noting that if these violent acts are allowed to continue, Hong Kong will be in a state of panic and residents will be afraid to go out.
