Anti-parallel Trade Activist Attacked In Sha Tin

An activist who is against the so-called parallel trade was attacked by several men in Sha Tin on Sunday night and is now being treated in hospital.

Ronald Leung said he was attacked by a group of men with rattan sticks and other objects around 11pm on Sunday night, according to Yuen Long anti-violence protest organiser Max Chung, who visited him in hospital.

Leung is the convenor of the North District Parallel Imports Concern Group, which opposes the influx of traders from the mainland who buy goods in Hong Kong to resell across the border, leveraging the SAR's lower taxes, and the perceived higher quality of some goods here. Local residents in the border towns say this has disrupted their lives.

Chung said Leung also told him that the men said the attack was just a warning, and told him not to cause any trouble.

Leung said that he was walking along the Shing Mun River on Sunday night when he was pounced on.

He said when he turned around to see who was grabbing him, some white powder was sprayed in his face. Then they started attacking, he said, adding one of them called out his name and warned him not to "stir up things".

Leung said there have been some protests by anti-parallel trade activists recently and some people were intimidated by this.

"I don't know if this attack is related to those things," he said.

Leung said that the attackers spoke with local accents and seemed to know what he does. He said he believed that he had been followed by them for some time and suspected this was a warning orchestrated by some powerful people.

Leung said this attack will not silence him and he will continue to speak out on the parallel trade issue.