Year of living dangerously: Hong Kong bombing campaign ‘almost unprecedented’, says police explosives unit
- Bulk of city’s 190 explosives cases came between June and January, as protests over the now-abandoned extradition bill grew increasingly violent
- A demonstration for media showed how the compound RDX could rip through furniture and tear a dummy into shreds
Hong Kong police handled nearly 190 explosives cases in 2019 – 60 per cent more than the year before – amid what they called an “almost unprecedented” bombing campaign.
The city’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau revealed the latest figures on Friday while showing just how much damage some of the explosives they have seized can cause.
“We’ve been dealing over the last few months with an ongoing bombing campaign [that is] almost unprecedented in Hong Kong,” senior bomb disposal officer Alick McWhirter said.
According to McWhirter, the force dealt with 187 explosives cases in 2019, up from 116 the year before.
The bulk of those, 162, came between June and January during a period of often violent social unrest that evolved from protests over the now-scrapped extradition bill. The same eight-month period also saw 52 bomb hoax reports.
