HKSAR chief executive visits wife of man set ablaze

HONG KONG - Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Carrie Lam visited on Saturday the wife of a 57-year-old construction worker set on fire by a rioter and transferred donations of HK$300,000 (around $40,000) to her.

"I also expressed my sympathy and I hope Lee will recover as soon as possible," Lam posted on her Facebook and said the money was the second batch raised by the construction sector, following previous donations of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars.

The man surnamed Lee was poured with flammable liquid and set ablaze on a footbridge in Ma On Shan on Nov 11, following an argument with rioters who were trashing facilities in a metro station.

Suffering from burns on almost half of his body, Lee was still in hospital after several medical operations.

"The horrific scene of Lee being tortured is still fresh in my mind," Lam said. "Rioters cannot tolerate other people disagreeing with them and they 'lynched,' threatened, beat and even burned innocent residents."

The assaults of rioters on ordinary residents were rampant. A 70-year-old street cleaner died in November after being hit in the head by a brick hurled by a rioter when a large group of masked rioters were wildly attacking residents attempting to remove road blockages.

Lam also denounced rioters who silence other people by doxxing and vandalism and said that partial coverage that glorifies violent accidents is outrageous.