Hong Kong hospital hit by homemade bomb day after protesters set fire to coronavirus quarantine building

27 Jan, 2020 08:41

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The Caritas Medical Center in Hong Kong. © Wikipedia 

A small bomb prompted evacuation and temporarily disrupted work at a hospital in Hong Kong. Masked protesters had earlier firebombed a proposed quarantine area for possible coronavirus victims.

The explosive device was hidden in a bathroom stall inside the Caritas Medical Center and went off at around 2:30am on Monday. About 20 patients were evacuated, after which a bomb squad examined the scene. The hospital's emergency department had to limit its work until services were fully restored later in the morning. No one was injured in the blast.

"After the explosion, there was a lot of white smoke, and a small fire," Chief Inspector Kevin Chong Kiu-wai told reporters, adding that the bomb was "not very powerful" and did not cause much damage. The device itself had been placed in a glass bottle before it blew up. It was not clear who was behind the explosion.

On Sunday, masked anti-government protesters threw a Molotov cocktail at an empty public building, where authorities planned to quarantine people who may have contracted the deadly coronavirus that is currently raging in mainland China.

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Hong Kong has seen months of intense protests, which often spiraled into fierce clashes between police and widespread riots. The unrest was originally sparked by a now-defunct controversial extradition bill, after which the demonstrations evolved to include broader demands, including election reform.