When I Was Young

Veronica Zaragovia, TIME.com

Posted: 12 June 2009 1124 hrs

Police officers stand guard near a box covering a bottle of acid where two bottles of acid were thrown at Hong Kong's shopping district Mongkok

Something is amiss on the streets of Mongkok. Ordinarily, the bustling 4.4 square mile patch of shops and food stalls is packed with some of the highest rates of pedestrian traffic in the world. In Hong Kong, Mongkok has become synonymous with the city's best bargains and slowest-moving sidewalks, but its over-saturation has always been part of its charm. Until this week. "The atmosphere has changed — I'll tell you that," says Daniel Clermont, a tourist from Toronto who visits Hong Kong frequently. "Usually it's filled wall-to-wall with people here."

There's a good reason for the thin crowds. On the rainy night of June 8, an unidentified person hurled an acid-filled bottle from a Mongkok building onto pedestrians below. It was the third acid attack in the neighborhood in six months, and it left 24 passers-by — including a four-year-old girl — with skin burns to their faces, shoulders, limbs and feet. Sammy Chan, a salesman at a shoe store across the street from the crime scene, said one family from the Philippines ran into his shop to throw water on their wounds. Five of them went to the hospital.

It's a bizarre serial crime by any city's standards, but especially for one with a relatively low crime rate on paper. While drug offenses have been up this year, Hong Kong police say the majority of all other reported crimes dropped several percentage points. In last year's Global Peace Index, a yearly listing of nations' peacefulness by Vision of Humanity, Hong Kong ranked a serene 23 out of 140. Yet when violent crimes occur, they can be exceedingly gruesome. This month, for instance, a mentally ill man was convicted of randomly butchering a three-year-old boy to death. In March, a man beheaded his former girlfriend for ending their relationship. "Any person with a sane mind would not do things like that," says Regional Crime Prevention Officer Peggy Yip.

In a city where a lot of people share a very little space, violent crimes leave a lasting impression on the population — and the police. After Mongkok's last acid attack, which occurred May 16, police installed eight CCTV surveillance cameras on two buildings in the area to try to catch the culprit the next time he or she struck. But after spending about $220,000 on the equipment, none of the cameras' footage caught this week's attack. Senior Superintendent Edward Leung Ka-ming of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said the collected footage needed to be "enhanced" because of its poor resolution to prove useful. While the district council decides what step to take next with the cameras, the police hope pedestrians might have some tips of their own. A large police van parked near the latest crime scene has posters in Cantonese and English offering a reward of over $37,000 for information.

In the meantime, dozens of policemen now roam Mongkok's normally chaotic streets — ubiquitous reminders that the neighborhood remains on alert. Circle Lo, an employee at a clothing store next to the attack spot, says she has noticed the drop in foot traffic and hopes business will return to normal within a week. But not everybody seems concerned. A LensCrafters employee, identifying himself as "Jacky Chan," works a only a few feet from where the bottle fell. "Some of the people who got hurt sat down," he said, "but it was like nothing happened." Perhaps, but judging by the pedestrians still looking up for a lurking villain two days after the attack, the mood in Mongkok is definitely down.

This article originally appeared on TIME.com

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Third attack in six months, Hong Kong believes culprit could be the same person

05:55 AM Jun 10, 2009

Victims of the acid attack receiving treatment by the roadside. AP

HONG KONG - Residents ventured out unafraid yesterday as police searched for suspects behind a third acid attack that injured 24 people in one of the city's most densely-populated shopping districts.

The latest attack on Monday night dominated headlines in Hong Kong, with several newspapers showing photos of victims washing off the acid on the roadside.

Police said a bottle filled with a corrosive liquid was hurled into a crowd in the busy Mongkok district, injuring 24 people. None of the victims, aged four to 49, were seriously burned.

It is the third such attack in six months in the neighbourhood, and 100 people have since been hurt.

On the same street last month, 30 people suffered burns when two plastic bottles filled with acid were thrown down into a crowd. Another 46 were injured in a similar attack in the same neighbourhood in December.

There were no signs the attacks had sparked widespread panic in the city of 7 million, as locals mostly went about their business.

But in Mongkok - a shopping hotspot that attracts thousands of people daily - some shoppers were staying away.

Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang condemned the attack, saying it was "cold blooded and evil" and that the assailant was "scum of the society".

Police superintendent Edward Leung was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post yesterday that it was possible the same person had carried out all three attacks.

He added in a radio interview that officers were reviewing surveillance footage taken by cameras recently installed to monitor the area of the attacks.

Investigators have also posted a HK$900,000 ($170,000) reward for information leading to an arrest. - AP

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 10-Jun-2009

Posted: 09 June 2009 1336 hrs

Shoppers walk in the busy district of Mongkok in Hong Kong.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police were Tuesday scouring CCTV footage for clues as to who tossed a bottle of acid from a building onto one of the city's busiest shopping streets, the third such attack in six months.

The attack in the Mongkok district of the city on Monday evening injured 24 people, including a four-year-old girl, who all suffered from burns to their limbs and faces.

"We are still investigating the incident and do not rule out the possibility that the same person or people were behind the three attacks," a police spokesman told AFP.

In December, 46 people were injured when two bottles of corrosive liquid were tossed down from a building onto the street. Another similar attack occurred near the same spot in May, injuring 30 pedestrians.

No one has so far been arrested over the attacks.

The latest incident came just hours after a new surveillance system was installed in the district, one of the most densely-populated parts of the world. The system was brought in as a result of the previous attacks.

The police are offering a reward of 900,000 Hong Kong dollars (115,000 US) for information leading to the arrest of those involved.

Hong Kong's chief executive Donald Tsang on Tuesday condemned the attacks.

"This was a cold-blooded and evil act. These people are the dregs of society," Tsang said.

He pledged that the police would do all they could to catch the culprits as soon as possible.

- AFP/il

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.