Thread by @EpochTimes

4 masked intruders dressed in black set a fire at the printing press of the #HongKong edition of @EpochTimes in the early hours of Nov. 19, marking the 4th attack to the facility since its opening more than a decade ago. (Thread 👇) theepochtimes.com/masked-intrude…

The incident took place around 3:40AM, as the staff there were about to send off newly printed newspapers to the stands.

Moments after staff opened the factory door, 4 masked men walked into the facility and pointed batons towards the workers, shouting: “all of you don’t move!”

Surveillance footage shows 2 of the men dressed in all black carrying batons, while one of them holds newspapers, and another carries two containers containing a flammable liquid, which he poured onto the factory machines and newspapers.

The other black-clad man then ignited a fire with a lighter. The 4 men immediately ran away after the fire started.

The fire caused the sprinkler system to turn on, and a staff member used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

The staff then called the police and fire department, who arrived shortly after and contained the situation. The Tsuen Wan police bureau has launched an investigation.

2 print machines, 4 rolls of printing papers, and several stacks of newspapers in the factory suffered damage from the fire. Some papers were also damaged by the water.

The fire marked the 4th attack since the @EpochTimes established the local edition in #HongKong in 2000.

Follow @EvaSailEast for more updates.

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Full video:

@EvaSailEast UPDATE:

Statement from Cheryl Ng, the spokesperson for @EpochTimes' #HongKong bureau, condemning the attack:

“The fact that two of the thugs dressed in black outfits which looks like the protesters is also view[ed] by us as CCP tactics trying to use people against people.”

“[The attack was] a crime against press freedom in Hong Kong,” she added, saying there’s reason to believe the #CCP is behind this vandalism.

Ng said the outlet has been targeted because of its truthful reporting on #China-related issues, including the ongoing #HongKongProtests.

Guo Jun, the #HongKong bureau director, said there were several issues suggesting that the #CCP was trying to throw dirty water on the #HongKongProtesters.

Alan Leong, a former member of the city’s Legislative Council and the chairman of the Hong Kong Civic Party, called on…

…the “evil thugs or the people behind them” to immediately stop what they were doing, or risk “becoming the public enemy of Hong Kong.”

“Hong Kong is not such a barbaric place, it’s a place where people convince others with reason,” he said.

#EpochTimes has given honest, thorough coverage of the #HongKongProtests, giving #Hongkongers, and the people of mainland #China who visit the city, a chance to know what is actually happening.

For instance, after #HongKongPolice laid siege to the #CUHK campus, 6 #HongKong newspapers on Nov. 12 ran front-page ads echoing #Beijing’s rhetoric attacking the protesters.

Only #EpochTimes and @appledaily_hk covered this escalation of police tactics on their front pages.

The reporting of the situation in #HongKong is just the latest instance of #EpochTimes’ longstanding critical coverage of the #CCP, which has earned the CCP’s enmity.

Earlier this year, the newspaper was abruptly pulled from shelves of @7Eleven stores throughout the city…

…despite months left in the distribution contract. At the time, the East Asia bureau director of Reporters Without Borders, Cédric Alviani, said he couldn’t “see any reason but the pressure from the Chinese authorities for this withdrawal.”

This arson is the 4th attack on #HongKong #EpochTimes print shop.

In Feb 2006, thugs broke into the print shop and attempted to smash the presses. In October 2012 the door of the print shop was damaged. In December 2012, seven men carrying multiple toolboxes appeared and began…

…attempting to break through the gate. They fled after police were called.

Police investigations into these incidents did not yield any arrests.

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