Coronavirus quarantine centre in Hong Kong is FIREBOMBED by rioters as city bans anyone from China epicentre
RIOTERS firebombed a housing complex in Hong Kong on learning it was about to be turned into a coronavirus quarantine zone.
They launched petrol bombs into the empty block hours after it was revealed the former British colony had been rocked by six confirmed cases of the killer bug.
Witnesses saw several black-clad masked protesters rush into the building in the Fanling district near the border with China before the arson attack.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire before hundreds of riot cops moved in arresting at least one protester.
Calls are now growing for Hong Kong’s government to close the financial hub’s border with mainland China to minimise the risk of further infection.
Local authorities have already banned anyone from the epicentre of the outbreak from entering the island.
The ban includes those who have been in Wuhan in the past 14 days but excludes Hong Kong citizens.
The Centre for Health Protection said the plan to turn the housing estate into a quarantine zone has now been shelved.
Earlier, hundreds of Hong Kong citizens had blocked roads leading to the building with bricks and other debris to protest about plans.
Hong Kong authorities had said they would convert the unoccupied public estate in into "temporary flats for quarantine and observation of close contact persons without symptoms if needed.”
The financial hub has been convulsed with demonstrations over the last seven months centred on Hong Kong’s relationship with mainland China.
Beijing denies meddling and blames the West for stirring trouble in the former British colony.
Hong Kong authorities have so far refused to categorically block the flow of visitors from mainland China across several land border crossings.
However, direct train and flight connections to and from Wuhan have been suspended.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Health authorities in the afternoon said 107 people were under quarantine, and there were 77 suspected cases.
Earlier, soldiers wearing medical masks have been deployed to the epicentre of the killer conoravirus outbreak.
Footage shows troops unloading supplies from the back of a jet in Wuhan as China desperately tries to contain the virus that has killed 56 and infected more than 2,000.
