Another suspect arrested for assaulting reporter at HK airport

A 23-year-old woman was arrested in Hong Kong on Monday for alleged involvement in the beating up of a Chinese mainland reporter at the Hong Kong International Airport, marking the second arrest over the high-profile case.

Pat Wai-fun, currently detained for further investigation, is suspected of false imprisonment and assaulting Fu Guohao, a Global Times reporter who was at the airport to cover a mass sit-in staged by black-clad protesters on Aug 13. Owing to the sit-in, the city's aviation hub was crippled completely on Aug 12 and 13, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and about a thousand flights cancelled.

Pat is due to appear in Eastern Magistrates' Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Apart from Fu's case, he is also involved in two other court cases.

Earlier this July, Pat was charged with obstructing a police officer in execution of his duty after she hit a security guard in the face at a hospital. This case is set to be heard on Oct 4 at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court.

She was also arrested in July 2016, for her involvement in Mong Kok Riot in February 2016 and charged with two counts of rioting. This case is slated to be heard in District Court on Sept 16.

Also on Monday, 19-year-old Lai Yun-long was denied bail in Eastern Magistrates' Court for assaulting Fu. The part-time hotel waiter was charged with three counts - unlawful assembly, assault as well as assault causing actual bodily harm.

Despite wearing a reflective vest to identify him as a member of the press, Fu Guohao was mobbed by a gang of masked radicals while covering the illegal assembly at the city's aviation hub.

His hands were tied above his head to a luggage trolley as masked radicals beat him for about an hour. Fu was eventually rescued and sent to hospital for treatment before being discharged on Wednesday.

According to the prosecutor, Lai was also suspected of assaulting a police officer during a violent clash at a shopping mall - New Town Plaza - in Sha Tin on July 14. In that incident, a police officer's fingertip was bitten off by a radical.

The suspect will be produced in Sha Tin Magistrates' Court on Aug 23 in connection with the Sha Tin clash.