HONG KONG

Three men beat up a Hong Kong man nicknamed "Bus Uncle," who became a celebrity overnight after a six-minute video of him yelling at a passenger was widely circulated on the Internet, newspapers reported Thursday.

The assailants -- wearing jeans, T-shirts and surgical masks -- stormed into the restaurant where Chan Yuet-tung was working and began punching him, the mass-market Apple Daily reported on its front page.

The newspaper showed a photo of one of the tattooed attackers with his fist raised over Chan's head as the victim cowered and covered his face with his hands. Another photo showed Chan with a swollen eye as he was wheeled into a hospital for treatment of fractured bones in his face, the paper said.

The middle-aged Chan indicated he might know who the men were and why they attacked him, but he declined to provide details, the report said.

After his beating, Chan faced the onlookers in the restaurant and said, "God watches the things men do. Those who attacked me did not escape God's eyes," the Ming Pao Daily News.

The media have been following Chan since the Cantonese-language video of his bus rant began circulating on Web sites like Youtube.com about two weeks ago. The six-minute film -- shot by a passenger's mobile phone -- quickly became one of the most-viewed videos in late May.

The grainy film shows Chan talking loudly on a mobile phone while riding on the top level of a double-decker bus. Chan erupts when a young man behind him taps him on the shoulder and asks him to lower his voice.

His long rant is full of angry phrases that have become part of the local slang. One of the most popular phrases is: "I face pressure. You face pressure. Why did you provoke me?"

He also says, "This is not resolved! This is not resolved! This is not resolved!"

The viral video has spawned a karaoke version and a rap song with the refrain, "I face pressure. You face pressure." English subtitles have been added to some of the viral video versions.