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Small Suspected Homemade Bomb Explodes at Hong Kong Hospital, No Injuries

Small Suspected Homemade Bomb Explodes at Hong Kong Hospital, No Injuries

HONG KONG—A suspected small-scale homemade bomb exploded at a general hospital in Hong Kong on Monday, causing the temporary evacuation of some patients but no injuries, police said.

The incident came after a group of protesters on Sunday set alight the lobby of a newly built residential building in Hong Kong’s suburb of Fanling that authorities had planned to use as a quarantine facility, as fears grow over a coronavirus outbreak in mainland China. Local residents were not notified of the governments plans, sparking street protests.

Small Suspected Homemade Bomb Explodes at Hong Kong Hospital, No Injuries Riot police detain a mass amount of residents in Fanling district in Hong Kong, China, on Jan. 26, 2020. Protesters clash over a proposal of using newly constructed housing as quarantine site in a residential area. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

The government has since said it will hold off plans to use Fai Ming Estate as a quarantine facility while it holds discussions at the upcoming North District Council meeting.

Hong Kong has been convulsed with demonstrations over the past seven months centered on its relationship with mainland China, with anger fueled by what protesters see as growing interference from Beijing.

The device exploded in a toilet cubicle at the Caritas Medical Centre at about 2:30 a.m. local time, police said in a statement.

The explosive ordnance disposal unit “found a suspicious bomb inside a toilet, 15 centimeters long, 10 centimeters in diameter,” police said.

“They took away the pieces of the suspicious bomb for further examination and evacuated around 20 people to a safe place. No one was injured. ”

The motive for the hospital explosion was not known.

There have been calls by pro-democracy legislators, activists, and a medical staff union in recent days for Hong Kong to shut the border with the mainland to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Hong Kong on Sunday barred residents of China’s Hubei province, the center of the virus outbreak, from entering the city. Chief Executive Carrie Lam last week dismissed a border closure as inappropriate and impractical.

Hong Kong has so far confirmed eight cases of people infected with the virus, which has killed at least 80 people in mainland China, according to official data.

Epoch Times staff contributed to this article.

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