A Hong Kong politician is believed to have had his ear bitten off after a knife fight broke out over "political differences".

Footage seen by Sky News seems to show a large part of Dr Andrew Chiu's left ear on the ground.

The video shows volunteer first aiders tending to his injuries, and what appears to be his severed ear being handed to him in a plastic bag.

Local reports have claimed that the pro-democracy district councillor's ear was bitten off.


Police said a fight broke out over "political differences" between a man and a family who had just finished dinner outside the Cityplaza shopping centre in Hong Kong's Taikoo Shing district on Sunday evening.

The man is understood to have been speaking Mandarin, spoken in mainland China, as opposed to Cantonese which is spoken by Hong Kongers.

A woman who had minor injuries said the man argued with her sister and brother-in-law before pulling a knife out of a bag and swiping at them.

She said her brother-in-law was stabbed, and a man was seen lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

Image: District councillor Dr Andrew Chiu's ear was allegedly bitten off

It is not clear how Dr Chiu became involved, but he has been the district councillor for the Taikoo Shing West area since 2007 and is running in the 24 November election.

Joshua Wong, one of the leading activists in Hong Kong's months-long pro-democracy movement, said his "close colleague Dr Andrew Chiu was assaulted in his constituency".

He wrote: "His left ear was brutally halved. I strongly condemn these violent attacks especially targeting election candidates."

Image: Police arrested a protester at a shopping mall in Tai Po

The suspected attacker was seen bloodied on the ground after the crowd beat him up, and he was then arrested at the scene.

Police used tear gas to disperse protesters who had formed a human chain in the mall.

Why are people protesting in Hong Kong?

Riot police had been deployed to shopping malls across the city on Sunday after hundreds of people took to the streets in defiance of a protest ban.

Clashes between protesters and police broke out, with a handful of restaurants vandalised, and eggs thrown from within the malls.

Image: Protesters marched on the streets in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong on Saturday

Image: Defying a police ban, thousands of protesters were streaming into Hong Kong's central shopping district on Saturday for another rally

Organisers called for pro-democracy supporters to "go for a walk" in six Hong Kong districts to protest alleged police brutality during the 22 weeks of protests.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters were forced to flee a park and the upmarket shopping district of Causeway Bay after police released tear gas.

Hong Kongers originally took to the streets to call for a bill which would mean accused criminals could be extradited to China to face trial to be removed.

The protests have turned into an anti-government movement, accusing Hong Kong's leaders of being under Beijing's thumb despite a deal with the UK to maintain its freedoms when Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.