Photo: screenshot of Twitter account of the Hong Kong Police Force

A man suspected of using a sharp object to stab a police officer during an illegal assembly and latter attempted to flee Hong Kong to the UK was arrested at the Hong Kong airport Thursday early morning, Hong Kong media on.cc reported.

The 24-year-old man, surnamed Wong, was detained for injuring others, and further investigations are underway. 

Wong graduated from Hong Kong University's department of civil engineering. His parents did not know he participated in the riots and attacked a police officer, nor did they know he was trying to flee, Wong's father told media. The father denied that they reported him to police.

The man's relatives tipped off the police, on.cc reported.

According to the Offences against the Person Ordinance of Hong Kong legislation, wounding others with the intent to do grievous bodily harm may incur life imprisonment.

Wong was one of rioters who attacked a police officer and caused serious injuries on Wednesday afternoon. Hong Kong Police said that they would do their utmost to capture rioters who stabbed a police officer with umbrellas and threw stones at him, causing bleeding on the officer's left arm. 

The incident happened when Hong Kong police were called to deal with an illegal assembly at Causeway Bay on Wednesday. A police officer was trying to apprehend a suspect but was faced with fierce resistance. Some rioters kept stabbing the police officer with umbrellas and threw stones at him. With the help of the rioters, the suspect ran away. The officer's left arm was injured and bleeding, and received urgent treatment, police said.

The injured police officer on Thursday thanked those who expressed concern and sympathies to him on social media with a selfie. 

Photo: screenshot of the injured police officer's Sina Weibo

"My condition improved after surgery, although the wound still hurts. Despite the injury, I did not regret sparing no effort chasing the rioters. There are 30,000 officers who would arrest rioters for me, for Hong Kong and for the country," the police officer wrote on Sina Weibo.  

Under the post, netizens praised the police officer's bravery and wished him a quick recovery. "We are so proud of you. You are a hero safeguarding the country and the people," wrote one Weibo user.

The police condemn the rioters' illegal behavior of harming others and such violent deeds are outrageous. The police will do their utmost to investigate, pursue and capture the attackers without mercy, according to the Hong Kong police. 

The HKSAR government also firmly condemned the police officer's attackers, stressing that it would not tolerate actions that harm social stability. It also showed support for the Hong Kong police's firm and swift law enforcement against law violators. 

Leung Chun-ying, former chief executive of the HKSAR, offered a reward of HK$500,000 for information on the attackers on his social media account on Wednesday.

Wednesday marks the first day of the enactment of the national security law for Hong Kong. 

Some opposition groups and anti-government forces were mulling holding protests on Wednesday afternoon, starting from Victoria Park, to stage their opposition to the law, some posts on social networking platform Telegram showed. 

Around 370 people were arrested on Wednesday, and seven police officers were injured during the operation, police said.

Global Times