The district council elections in Hong Kong later this month are in danger of being scuttled as unrest in the city escalates following the death of a student last Friday, after he fell from a multi-storey carpark the previous weekend, and as a protester was shot yesterday by police.

Even before this, the pro-establishment camp had questioned whether the elections would be fair and just after one of its candidates, Mr Junius Ho, was stabbed in the chest last Wednesday. The pro-democracy or pan-democratic camp, for its part, has said that at least seven of its candidates have been attacked since July.