A taxi driver suddenly drove onto the pedestrian walkway outside Hong Kong’s government building where protesters were gathered and rammed into them. As he knocked people to the ground, the driver didn’t slow down. He just plowed through the crowd until his vehicle hit an iron gate at a store entrance.
The incident occurred on Oct. 6 at around 4 p.m. Three pedestrians were injured, two in serious condition. The driver was later identified as 59-year-old Henry Cheng.
The angry crowd immediately surrounded Cheng and began beating him, until firefighters arrived and took the driver and an injured woman to a hospital.
The incident shocked Hongkongers. Their concern is that the people may continue settling disputes outside the courts because the Hong Kong government has proven itself untrustworthy.
To add fuel to people’s anger and anxiety, pro-Beijing politicians made an astonishing move.
Kennedy Wong, member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, went to Princess Margaret Hospital to visit the taxi driver on Oct. 8. At the same time, Safeguard Hong Kong Alliance, a pro-government coalition, initiated internal fundraising to support the driver and promised the amount will exceed 520,000 Hong Kong dollars ($66,305), according to Wen Wei Po, one of the three major leftist publications in Hong Kong.
Shortly after the incident, Oscar Kwok Yam-shu, Deputy Commissioner of Police, voiced support for the taxi driver at a police press conference. Kwok did not blame the driver at all, downplaying the incident as a traffic accident. Instead, he spent a lot of time criticizing those who attacked Cheng.
“Hong Kong will never allow the use of force to punish someone outside the courts. If anyone dies as a result, the crime will be treated as a murder,” said Kwok.
Many netizens expressed their anger at his statements on social media.
“An intentional murderer will receive hefty rewards, the logic of the communist regime is no different than that of a beast,” one netizen wrote.
Some netizens also lashed out at Kwok’s statement, as they believe the incident was a terrorist attack. The netizens pointed out that the police did not even conduct an investigation or collect witnesses’ testimonies, yet they quickly came to the conclusion that what occurred was a traffic accident.
