Hong Kong Politician Attacked After March

Hong Kong police are searching for three men who savagely clubbed a pro-democracy politician with batons and baseball bats in a crowded McDonald's restaurant yesterday.

The assault - a shocking act in a territory with low levels of violent crime -�½left Albert Ho, vice-chairman of the Democratic Party and a member of the legislature, with a broken nose and head wounds.

Mr Ho was beaten soon after he took part in a protest march against a proposed sales tax, but his colleagues played down the possibility of a political connection. "We don't think that the attack relates to big politics," the leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Wing-tat, told reporters. "It isn't to do with the Beijing government or the Hong Kong government."

Colleagues speculated that the assault may have been carried out by Triad gangsters. Mr Ho - who is also a lawyer - has a reputation for taking on cases that other law firms have been intimidated out of taking.

Newspapers in Hong Kong carried front-page pictures of Mr Ho's bruised and bloodied body on the floor of the fast food outlet.

According to witnesses, the attackers burst into the packed restaurant while Mr Ho and a Democratic Party colleague, Howard Lam, were sitting at a table.

"Three muscular men, wearing caps and jeans, sprinted towards us," Mr Lam told the South China Morning Post. "They were very well organised."

McDonalds staff described the chaotic scenes inside the restaurant as panicked diners fled during the three-minute assault.

Although there were more than 100 people in the restaurant, the only person who tried to intervene was Mr Lam.

Police have called for information from the public and detectives are checking CCTV cameras in the area for clues about the attackers' identities.

In a televised appeal today, Hong Kong's chief executive Donald Tsang urged the public to help identify the men, who covered their faces with baseball caps.

Violence against public figures is rare but not unknown in Hong Kong. In 1998, the former radio talk show host Albert Cheng was struck with a cleaver by an unknown assailant. Pro-democracy politicians say they are subject to threats and intimidation for their supposed lack of patriotism towards the mainland.