HONG KONG • She is "no hero", but TVB actress Celine Ma has defiantly said she will still stand up to vandals again.

Speaking to the media for the first time after she was attacked by pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong on Oct 6, the 51-year-old added that she did what she felt any responsible person would do that day.

"I am no hero. I am just someone who loves Hong Kong a lot and someone who follows her conscience.

"My family and friends were worried about me, but I have no regrets and if there is a repeat of the incident, I would do it again," the A Kindred Spirit actress was cited by Sin Chew Daily as saying.

She was attacked when she came across people in Mong Kok trying to destroy a Bank of China ATM.

In the altercation that followed after she started filming them with her mobile phone, she was hit with a tennis racquet.

She was also sprayed in the face.

Ma stood her ground and a man later beseeched the crowd to leave her alone, with another person - a foreign journalist - accompanying her to a police station.

She was hospitalised and needed 11 stitches for injuries to her chin, mouth and head.

Her plight drew many people to criticise her attackers, though there were also reports Ma had brought trouble to herself by attacking the vandals first.

Even if that were true, her defenders said it was not a fair fight, with the mob taking on one woman.

While her injuries are healing, Ma is still hurt that Hong Kong continues to be roiled by demonstrations.

"Hong Kong is my home. I am disheartened to see it being destroyed," she said.

"I hope the younger generation will stop and look at the ruined city.

"Hong Kong belongs to you. How could you destroy your future?"