He said he was even warned in a telephone call not to give a photo signed by Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi to the widow of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Howard Lam, a key pro-democracy activist in the former British colony, was confronted by men speaking Mandarin, spoken in Beijing but not widely in Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong, outside a sports store, he told reporters. He was knocked out and eventually found himself dumped on a beach in Hong Kong's remote Sai Kung district. Hong Kong police and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China's State Council were not immediately available for comment. Democratic Party member Lee Cheuk-yan displays an autographed photo of football player Lionel Messi, outside a hospital in Hong Kong, China August 11, 2017.

Source: Sunday Times August 11, 2017 07:52 UTC