Hong Kong police stop and search several people near scene of 2021 knife attack on officer

Hong Kong police have stopped and searched several people, including a dentist earlier arrested for alleged sedition, after they briefly stood in silence on a busy street near the spot where an officer was stabbed in 2021 by a “lone wolf” assailant.

Dentist Lee Ying-chi appeared outside the Sogo department store in Causeway Bay with three friends, some of whom were dressed in black, at around 10pm on Monday, the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule.

On July 1 three years ago, as Hong Kong celebrated the 24th handover anniversary, a 50-year-old man attacked a police officer from behind with a knife before stabbing himself in the chest twice.

But Lee denied she and her friends had been mourning the attacker when police officers stopped and searched some of them at a nearby bus stop about 15 minutes later.

“Police asked whether I was mourning or observing a silence, I said no,” she said. “They said videos taken by online media outlets were all evidence.”

Asked what she was doing outside the department store, Lee said: “Well, it is what you think it is,” and declined to elaborate further.