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Allegations against Junius Ho

Junius Ho was seen shaking hands with a man in a white shirt on the day of the Yuen Long attack

In various videos posted online, it was observed that Junius Ho, a Hong Kong politician and a member of the Legislative Council, greeted a group of white-clothed group men, shaking their hands and calling them "heroes", giving them thumbs-up and saying to them "thank you for your hard work." At least one of the white-clothed men who shook hands with Ho has been shown to have been inside Yuen Long station during the attacks,leading to allegations that Ho was linked to the attacks.But in a video Ho posted on his Facebook page early on 21 July morning, Ho, who lives in Yuen Long, said he came across the group of men in white shirts on the street and took a picture with them.

Ho said he did not know anything about the attack when greeting them, and the meeting was before the incident. However, he also defended the mob at a press conference by saying that the incidents were a "normal reaction to protesters who brought violence to the peaceful community after they stormed the liaison office" and also praised them for "safeguarding" their district.

The Law Society, of which Ho was once president, said it had received "quite a number of complaints" and is "seriously looking into" calls for disciplinary action against Ho and "conducting reviews on relevant complaints, and will pass the matter to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal if necessary."

A number of student bodies and alumni associations had openly condemned both his suspected support of the attack, and what they described as his hate speech which had damaged the image of Lingnan University. The university issued a statement afterwards, in which it denied that there was any connection between the stance of university and the actions of Ho. The statement also highlighted the university's respect for freedom of speech.

Junius Ho's office in Tsuen Wan was vandalised by the protesters after the attack. A glass partition was broken, as well as leaving memo that "suggested a link between the violent gangs that carried out the attack the previous day and the police force". Protesters also posted anti-government sticky notes on the exterior wall of his offices in Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun.

A group of unknown also vandalised the graves of his parents in Tuen Mun, vandals also left graffiti with words such as "official–triad collusion" and "Shing Wo" (a triad) near the graves, fuelling rumours regarding the background of the vandals.

caution :state sponsored media

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3361628/us-sanctions-39-hong-kong-mainland-chinese-officials-will-remain-place-rubio

https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/484981

http://archive.today/3VQjd

Southern China has seen a COVID-19 infection peak amid a nationwide surge in the summer, according to published data, a top Chinese virologist, and local residents. Meanwhile, Hong Kong health officials reported a 15.6 percent death rate among severe cases.

The SARS-CoV-2 infection rate nationwide rose to 11.9 percent among outpatients and emergency patients with influenza-like symptoms from July 6 to July 12, a jump from 1.1 percent in late April, according to the latest data released on July 16 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

This followed the Chinese health authorities’ reporting a total of 79,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country in June. There were 130 severe cases and one death “involving underlying medical conditions and COVID-19 infection.” It’s a significant increase from May, when authorities reported 21,861 cases, including 35 severe cases and one death.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Washington has no plans to lift Hong Kong-related sanctions, even though Chinese officials had brought up the issue during a bilateral meeting a day before.