The League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party with a 19-year history, has announced it will hold a press conference Sunday to announce its disbandment, signaling the disappearance of pro-democracy parties from Hong Kong’s political landscape.
“Next year would have marked the 20th anniversary of our founding, but we will not make it to that day,” LSD said in a media notice on Friday. “We are announcing our dissolution.”
A source told RFA Cantonese that LSD was warned several times, beginning in April, that it must dissolve before July 1 or risk being forcibly disbanded.
Incumbent LSD chairperson Chan Po-ying has previously declined to comment. On Friday, she again said she would not respond before the press conference.
“No Resistance, No Change”
Founded in 2006, LSD’s slogan was “No resistance, no change.” The party made headlines in 2008 when it secured three seats in the Legislative Council with Wong Yuk-man, Leung Kwok-hung, and Albert Chan, becoming the third-largest pro-democracy party. Known for its confrontational style, LSD lawmakers famously threw bananas at then-Chief Executive Donald Tsang during a LegCo session, becoming a symbol of the city’s radical democrats. Outside the legislature, LSD organized and participated in numerous protests and civil disobedience campaigns.
In 2009, LSD and the Civic Party launched the “Five Constituencies Referendum” campaign, in which five lawmakers resigned and re-contested their seats to demand universal suffrage. All five, including LSD’s Leung Kwok-hung, Wong Yuk-man, and Albert Chan, and Civic Party’s Alan Leong and Tanya Chan, were re-elected in the May 2010 by-election.
Pro-democracy activists Chung Yiu-wa, Cheung Say-yin, former Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat, baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, 74, law professor Benny Tai, 54, sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 59, lawmakers Tanya Chan and Shiu Ka-chun, and League of Social Democrats vice-chairman Raphael Wong, chant before entering the West Kowloon Magistrates Court in Hong Kong on Nov. 19, 2018. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)
Legislative filibusters and internal splits
In 2011, LSD launched a “vote repayment” campaign targeting the Democratic Party for its role in pushing forward Beijing-approved electoral reforms. Internal disagreements over strategy led to a split, with Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan forming People Power. Leung Kwok-hung then took over as LSD chair. The party retained only one LegCo seat in the 2012 and 2016 elections but continued legislative filibusters and budget protest actions alongside People Power.
In 2016, Leung Kwok-hung was disqualified from LegCo for holding a yellow umbrella and tearing up a copy of the NPC’s “831” decision during his oath-taking. Since then, LSD has had no seats in the legislature but continued grassroots activism and protest actions.
Leung Kwok-hung still imprisoned
Many LSD members have served jail time for civil disobedience. Leung Kwok-hung, now 69, remains in prison as a defendant in the 47 democrats’ national security case. LSD vice-chair Jimmy Sham, also one of the 47, was released last month after serving his sentence.
Even after other pro-democracy parties such as the Democratic Party and Civic Party disbanded, LSD continued street actions under the National Security Law era — addressing issues like labor importation and minimum wage.
Earlier this year, the party planned a protest outside government headquarters on Budget Day but canceled due to “immense pressure.” Some LSD members also had their bank accounts frozen or closed, and several were charged for “unauthorized fundraising in public” and “unauthorized display of posters.”
Edited by Greg Barber
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
New York, June 24, 2025—On the fourth anniversary of the closure of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 32 other press freedom and human rights organizations in calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to urgently meet with Sebastien Lai, son of jailed publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai.
Sebastien Lai has sought a meeting with Starmer for more than two years to advocate for the release of his father, 77-year-old Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily. His health is deteriorating and he risks dying in jail.
Lai has been imprisoned for over 1,600 days, mostly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long-delayed trial for sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. After Lai’s arrest in 2020, Apple Daily was shuttered on June 24, 2021, following police raids and the freezing of the paper’s assets.
Hong Kong authorities are declining to provide details of six recent arrests under a national security law, fueling growing concerns about government transparency as it tightens controls on dissent.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said Tuesday that since the promulgation of the National Security Law in 2020, 332 individuals have been arrested. That was an increase of six arrests since Secretary for Security Chris Tang stated on June 1 that 326 people had been arrested under the law, with 165 convictions.
When local media asked about the new arrests, the Security Bureau said detailed breakdowns of arrest figures are “classified information related to safeguarding national security in the HKSAR and thus will not be made public.” HKSAR stands for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Political commentator Sampson Wong said that in the past the Hong Kong government rarely used national security as a reason to withhold information, and now the public’s basic right to know was being damaged.
“At this point, reporters can still detect some of these arrests, but how long will that last? In the future, will people be arrested without anyone knowing?” Wong asked.
“Anything could be labelled a breach of confidentiality. If this continues, the truth will be completely under the control of national security authorities,” he said.
A March 21, 2023, photo shows Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee in Hong Kong.(Louise Delmotte/AP)
The National Security Law was adopted after massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 as Beijing tightened controls over Hong Kong, which had enjoyed greater civic freedoms than mainland China and greater government transparency, including by police. China maintains the 2020 law was required to maintain order.
Last month, the Hong Kong government bypassed Legislative Council procedures and unilaterally enacted two new subsidiary laws under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which significantly expanded the powers of Beijing’s office overseeing national security in the city.
Under the measures, it is prohibited to disclose or film the office’s operations; civil servants must cooperate with and support national security operations; and any act that obstructs national security officers from performing their duties is criminalized.
While it remains unclear which six arrests happened in the past two weeks, on June 2, the National Security Department arrested one man and four women for allegedly conspiring to commit terrorist activities. The suspects had reportedly used phones, emails, and messaging apps to send messages threatening to bomb central government offices and a sports park, while also promoting pro-independence messages for Taiwan and Hong Kong.
On June 6, prominent democracy advocate Joshua Wong, who is already serving a four-year-and-eight-month sentence for subversion, was formally arrested on an additional charge of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.”
Last week, authorities also launched a national security investigation into six unnamed persons on suspicion of “colluding with a foreign country.” But the Security Bureau clarified that no arrests had been made as yet related to that probe.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
The app makers call it a “war saga” where gamers can choose a rebel faction from Hong Kong, Taiwan and even Tibet and then play at fighting Chinese communist forces – or if they choose, fight for the communist side instead.
But it seems like whichever side you choose, it could get you into trouble in Hong Kong.
This week, the city’s police issued a stark warning against downloading the mobile app “Reversed Front: Bonfire” on the grounds that the game is “advocating armed revolution and the overthrow of the fundamental system of the People’s Republic of China.”
The police force’s National Security Department, or NSD, said in a statement Tuesday that any person who shares or recommends the app, or makes in-app purchases, may be violating articles of the city’s draconian national security law that punish incitement to secession and subversion. A person who downloads the app would be in possession of a publication with a “seditious intention.”
The statement concluded that such acts are “extremely serious offences” and that police would strictly enforce the law.
“Members of the public should not download the application or provide funding by any means to the relevant developer. Those who have downloaded the application should uninstall it immediately and must not attempt to defy the law,” it said.
Welcome to Hong Kong in 2025, where even gaming apps are in the cross-hairs of authorities.
Until a few years ago, the city was famed for its vibrant civic society and freedoms which had persisted since the territory came under Chinese control in 1997.
“It’s absurd that the government fears this game, especially when players are free to choose any faction—including the Red Army,” one gamer who goes by the alias Fu Tong told Radio Free Asia. “Their reaction just reflects an authoritarian regime’s deep fear of freedom and how brittle the system really is.”
Widening crackdown
The warning, apparently the first issued in Hong Kong against a gaming app, was the latest sign of a widening crackdown on basic freedoms that has ensued since massive anti-government protests that broke out six years ago. That movement was followed by the passage of the 2020 national security law imposed by Beijing and a law enacted by the Hong Kong legislature 2024.
The app’s developer, ESC Taiwan, did not immediately respond to an RFA request for comment on Tuesday’s police statement.
ESC has described itself as a civilian volunteer group that was set up in 2017 to “coordinate with overseas anti-Communist organizations and assist foreign allies with outreach and organizing efforts.” It doesn’t disclose who its members are but says they are mostly Taiwanese, with a few Hongkongers and Mongolians.
The game’s first online version was released in 2020, and a board game version launched in the same year. At the time, China’s state-run Global Times published a critical editorial accusing the game of promoting “Taiwanese independence” and “Hong Kong separatism.”
According to a person familiar with the operations of ESC, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, the developers had raised over HK$6 million (US$760,000) via crowdfunding in Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2019 to develop the game, and a portion of the game’s revenue is donated to anti-China Communist Party organizations abroad.
Players of “Reversed Front: Bonfire” can assume the role of rebels from places such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria, Taiwan and the Uyghur region trying to overthrow the communist regime.
“Or you can choose to lead the Communists to defeat all enemies and resume the century-long march of the Communist revolution to the other side of the land and sea!” ESC says in its promo for the app.
For the Hong Kong option, numerous game characters are inspired by the city’s past protest culture. For example, one character, “Ka Yan,” hails from Yuen Long – a town in Hong Kong’s western territories – and wears blue-and-white striped tape often used by Hong Kong police. Another, “Sylvia,” wears a gas mask and a uniform printed with the slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.”
The game’s dialogue is also steeped in Hong Kong culture and includes an instrumental version of “Glory to Hong Kong,” a banned anthem that was popular during 2019 pro-democracy protests.
While the police statement on Tuesday appeared to boost interest in the game, The Associated Press in Hong Kong reported that the app was not available in Apple app story by Wednesday morning. It remains available in the United States.
One gamer, Andy, said that after the statement was issued Hong Kong-themed player groups within the game quickly cleared their chat logs fearing they could be trawled by authorities.
He praised the game as reflecting current geopolitical realities, including China’s approach to Taiwan – the self-ruling island that Beijing claims as part of China.
Supporting this game, Andy added, also allows players to symbolically “defend Hong Kong territory.”
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Cantonese.
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, Joshua Wong, was transported from prison to court Friday and charged with colluding with foreign forces, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Wong, 28, is already serving a four-year-and-eight-month sentence for subversion. He is currently due for release about one-and-a-half years from now. If found guilty on the new charge it could prolong his imprisonment.
Wong is one of the most internationally recognizable faces of the now-quashed democracy movement in the city. He was among 45 Hong Kong opposition politicians and pro-democracy activists who were convicted with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the city’s 2020 National Security Law for taking part in a democratic primary in the summer of 2020.
Wong appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday afternoon wearing a navy blue shirt. He appeared in good spirits. After the court clerk read out the charge, Wong responded, “Understood,” and waved and nodded to supporters as he left. The entire hearing lasted about three minutes.
He was charged with one count of “conspiring to collude with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.” He was specifically accused of conspiring with exiled activist Nathan Law and others in 2020.
The case was adjourned until Aug. 8 to allow for further investigation, and Wong did not apply for bail and will remain in custody. He was not required to enter a plea.
In this March 4, 2021, photo, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong is escorted by Correctional Services officers to a prison van in Hong Kong.(Kin Cheung/AP)
Dozens of uniformed officers were stationed outside the courthouse. Police set up barricades and vehicle-stoppers at nearby intersections, and police dogs were deployed for searches.
Sarah Brooks, China director at Amnesty International, said: “This new charge underscores the authorities’ fear of prominent dissenters and their willingness to do whatever it takes to keep them locked up for as long as possible.”
The nongovernment Hong Kong Human Rights Information Centre condemned what it called strategic abuse of the National Security Law to launch politically motivated prosecutions of pro-democracy leaders.
The group said the timing of the new charge—nearly five years after the alleged events—as clearly designed to avoid any overlap in sentencing, thereby maximizing Wong’s time in prison.
Wong rose to prominence during student-led protests more than a decade ago. He also joined massive democracy rallies in 2019 that triggered the imposition of the national security law.
China maintains the law is required to maintain order. It has cracked down on political dissent and squelched a once vibrant civil society in the territory.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
China announced Friday it was replacing its top official in Hong Kong who was regarded as a symbol of Beijing’s hardline approach toward the territory since 2019 pro-democracy protests.
China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said it was removing Zheng Yanxiong from several key positions including as director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Zheng was viewed as the Chinese Communist Party’s top envoy in Hong Kong and a key liaison with Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, who was appointed by China’s State Council as the head of the Hong Kong government.
No reason was given Friday for removing Zheng and if he was being appointed to another position.
Zheng was dispatched by Beijing to Hong Kong in 2019 to oversee the crackdown on the protests, before his appointment in 2020 as the first head of the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong. In 2023, he was promoted to director of the Liaison Office – the position he’s now vacating.
Throughout his tenure, he aggressively promoted the enforcement of Hong Kong’s National Security Law as Beijing looked to curtail the freedoms that had set the city apart from the mainland since the 1997 handover from British control. His tenure saw tighter controls over the press, academia, and civil society — drawing widespread international criticism.
In 2023, Zheng took the unprecedented step of reviewing a Hong Kong police graduation ceremony, warning new officers of “hostile foreign forces” trying to make a comeback. Analysts said that was intended to assert Beijing’s firm control over security in the territory.
Friday’s announcement said China’s State Council has now appointed Zhou Ji to succeed Zheng as director of the Liaison Office and national security adviser in Hong Kong.
Zhou previously served as executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
Hong Kong police have arrested the father and brother of wanted U.S.-based activist Anna Kwok, local media reported on Friday.
The police said they arrested two men aged 35 and 68 on Wednesday, suspecting them of violating the national security and crimes ordinances by “attempting to directly or indirectly handle the funds of fugitives.” They didn’t identify the men.
Local media said the police discovered that Kwok’s father, Kwok Yin-sang, traveled overseas to meet her. After returning to Hong Kong he tried to withdraw nearly US$14,000 from his daughter’s life and accident insurance policies, police said.
Kwok’s brother worked at an insurance company, according to the Sing Tao Daily, and may have used his knowledge of the industry to help manage his sister’s finances.
Kwok’s father was denied bail while her brother was released, Reuters reported. The family’s lawyer could not be reached for comment, the news agency said.
Anna Kwok is the executive director of the Washington-based political lobbying group the Hong Kong Democracy Council. Hong Kong authorities offered a HK$1 million (US$128,000) bounty for her capture, accusing her of “colluding with foreign forces” under the national security law, which bans criticism of the authorities.
Kwok’s parents and two brothers were detained in August last year and questioned over whether they had any contact or financial dealings with her.
Kwok wrote on Facebook at the time that her family had never helped her and were probably unaware of the nature of her work. She said the Hong Kong government wanted to silence her by harassing her family, but she would not give up trying to pave the way for Hong Kong’s freedom and self-determination.
Edited by Mike Firn and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
BANGKOK – Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday freed four former lawmakers who each spent more than four years in prison for their part in staging an unofficial primary election in 2020, local media reported.
Claudia Mo, Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan were among 47 activists arrested for the election activities. Only two of the 47 were acquitted after a grueling 118-day trial that ended in November 2024 with prison sentences of four to 10 years.
Vehicles carrying the freed activists left three prisons early on Tuesday amid tight security, The Associated Press reported.
Reporters outside Mo’s home were told by husband Philip Bowring that she was resting and didn’t want to speak to them, according to the AFP news agency.
“She’s well and she’s in good spirits,” he said. “We look forward to being together again.”
Mo, Tam, Kwok and Fan – who received the shortest sentences of the 47 – had their prison time reduced after pleading guilty.
A pro-democracy activist protests outside the West Kowloon courts as closing arguments open in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy figures, Nov. 29, 2023.(Louise Delmotte/AP)
The group organized the 2020 primary to find the best pro-democracy candidates for Hong Kong’s September 2020 Legislative Council election at a time when Beijing was aggressively eroding the territory’s autonomy. More than 600,000 people cast their votes in the preliminary poll.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s governor at the time, postponed the 2020 election, citing health concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government then rewrote the electoral rulebook to prevent pro-democracy candidates from running, eventually holding a fresh election in December 2021 in which only “patriots” approved by a Beijing-backed committee were allowed to stand.
On Jan. 6, 2021, the newly formed national security police arrested 55 people. They brought formal charges against 47 of them, then denied bail to the majority.
The 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with subversion under the city’s 2020 National Security Law, a charge which carries a maximum life sentence.
The prosecution argued that their bid to win a majority was “a conspiracy” to undermine the city’s government and take control of the Legislative Council.
The long-running case sparked international outrage, with protests from the U.S., U.K. and Australian governments, and the United Nations. Hong Kong’s last British colonial governor, Lord Patten of Barnes, called the case “an affront to the people of Hong Kong.”
Edited by Taejun Kang and Stephen Wright.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mike Firn for RFA.
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen, previously arrested under the Beijing-imposed national security law, was allowed to leave the city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in an apparent show of leniency for the retired bishop known for being a vocal critic of China’s interference in church affairs.
Zen, 93, departed for Vatican City on Wednesday evening after a court granted the temporary return of his passport, which was confiscated after his arrest in 2022 for allegedly colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security, two sources told Radio Free Asia.
Cardinal Zen, who is currently on bail after his 2022 arrest, is traveling with a member of the Salesian religious congregation, one of the largest groups in the church, the sources said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giogia Meloni, are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died Monday at the age of 88.
The papal funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Cardinal Stephen Chow, the current bishop of Hong Kong, has also arrived in Rome to attend Pope Francis’s funeral and participate in the secret conclave to vote for the new pope, according to the city’s Catholic Social Communications Office.
Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen attends mass at the Holy Cross Church in Hong Kong on May 24, 2022.(PETER PARKS/AFP)
In Italy, Zen will be received by Father John Paul Cheung, a priest from the Salesian order, who will help coordinate his schedule there, the sources said.
The Associated Press on Thursday quoted Cardinal Zen’s secretary as confirming that the retired bishop had recently applied to the court for his passport to be released.
The cardinal intends to return to Hong Kong after attending the funeral, though the exact date of his return is yet to be confirmed, the AP reported, citing his secretary.
Earlier in the week, Zen criticized the Vatican for providing only a day’s notice before convening the first General Congregation, prior to the papal conclave, saying the short notice made it difficult for elderly cardinals from peripheral regions to arrive on time.
Conditions for travel
This is not the first time Cardinal Zen has been permitted to retrieve his passport. In January 2023, he was allowed to attend the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
During that visit, Zen met privately with Pope Francis — their first meeting since Zen’s 2022 arrest. In a later interview, Francis had described Zen as “a gentle soul,” while Zen, in turn, said Pope Francis made him feel very warm and comforted.
The conditions for Zen’s travel are expected to be similar to those in the past, including a ban on media interviews and surrender of his passport to the police upon his return, in accordance with bail conditions for those arrested under the national security law.
(L-R) Scholar Hui Po-keung, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Cantopop star Denise Ho and former pro-democracy lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, who pleaded not guilty to ‘collusion with foreign forces’ in connection with their trusteeship of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, head to court in Hong Kong, May 24, 2022. Credit: RFA.
In May 2022, Zen’s arrest by Hong Kong’s national security police along with other pro-democracy figures sparked international outrage from governments and rights activists.
Later that year, he and his co-defendants were fined after being found guilty of failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal and psychological help to people arrested during the city’s 2019 protest movement.
They are scheduled to appear in court for an appeal hearing on Dec. 3, 2025.
In particular, he has accused Cardinal Pietro Parolin – the Vatican’s secretary of state and a frontrunner to become the new pontiff – of being “a man of little faith,” for his role in architecting the deal that many say undermines the church’s mission in China.
The next pope will be elected by the College of Cardinals in a secret conclave. Zen, like other cardinals aged over 80, does not have voting rights but can participate in the discussions.
Of the three cardinals in the Hong Kong diocese, only Chow, 65, is eligible to vote. Ascending to the papacy requires the votes of 90 out of 135 cardinals eligible to participate in the Vatican conclave.
Several prominent cardinals who oversee dioceses in Asia are regarded by the region’s faithful as worthy candidates to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics. An Asian pope would be a first for the church.
Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
Human rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday it is opening a new Hong Kong section overseas, three years after closing its office in the territory because of a Chinese crackdown on civil society.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas (AIHKO), will be led by Hong Kong diaspora activists operating from key international hubs including Australia, Canada, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States, Amnesty said in a statement.
“The gutting of Hong Kong’s civil society has been a tragedy for the city with more than 100 non-profits and media outlets shut down or forced to flee,” the statement said. “We are now ready to intensify our efforts by building new communities of support driven by the Hong Kong diaspora.”
Amnesty said that since pro-democracy protests in 2019, more than 10,000 people, many of them students, have been arrested for protest-related activities. Over 300 people have been arrested for alleged acts of “endangering national security.”
It said that AIHKO is Amnesty International’s first-ever section founded and operated entirely “in exile.”
“Being overseas provides us with a degree of protection, allowing us to speak more freely and engage in advocacy work. We have a responsibility to do more to support those who remain in Hong Kong and continue their vital efforts,” Fernando Cheung, AIHKO board member and former Hong Kong legislator, was quoted as saying.
The U.K.-based human rights group was founded in 1961 with particular focus on the plight of political prisoners. Amnesty International’s local office in Hong Kong ceased operations on Oct. 31, 2021.
AIHKO, which is officially registered in Switzerland, will focus on advocating for human rights of Hong Kongers, within Hong Kong and abroad, the statement said.
Hong Kong was once a bastion of free media and expression in Asia, qualities that helped make it an international financial center and a regional hub for journalism and civil society groups.
But demonstrations in 2019 against Beijing’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s freedoms led to the passage of a national security law in 2020 that stifled dissent, making life increasingly precarious for independent groups that criticized China.
Radio Free Asia closed in its Hong Kong bureau in March 2024, saying the city’s recently amended national security law, also known as “Article 23,” had raised safety concerns for its reporters and staff members.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.
A social worker and rights activist was sentenced Wednesday to three years and nine months in prison for participating in a riot during Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Jackie Chen was one of several social workers who tried to mediate between police and demonstrators. She carried a loudspeaker and urged police to use restraint and to refrain from firing non-lethal bullets during a protest that took place on Aug. 31, 2019.
At Wednesday’s hearing in the Hong Kong district court, three co-defendants were sentenced to two years and five months in prison after entering a guilty plea. Chen, who pleaded guilty and got the stiffer sentence, had faced up to seven years in prison.
Police made more than 10,000 arrests during and after the 2019 protests, which began as a show of mass public anger at plans to allow the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to mainland China.
They broadened to include demands for fully democratic elections and greater official accountability.
Chen was acquitted in 2020, but prosecutors appealed and won a retrial in another example of the harsh stance that Hong Kong authorities have taken with political cases.
When Chen was convicted last month, Judge May Chung wrote in her verdict that Chen used her position as a social worker to support the protesters and used the loudspeaker to shout unfounded accusations against the police.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed on Dec. 19, 1984 in Beijing – and the 1990 Hong Kong mini-constitution known as the Basic Law – promised that Hong Kong would retain its legislative system, rights and freedom for fifty years, as a special administrative region of China, while the central government in Beijing controlled Hong Kong’s foreign affairs. Beijing’s retention of control over legal interpretation of the Basic Law, which had promised universal suffrage, planted the seed of future protests.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Paul Eckert.
In the year since Hong Kong passed its “Article 23” legislation, national security police have hauled in the friends of a pro-democracy activist in Taiwan over comments he made on social media, and are increasingly monitoring people’s social media interactions.
Fu Tong, who now lives in democratic Taiwan, said police back home seem to be targeting online speech since the passing of a second national security law that includes a broader “sedition” offense than earlier legislation.
“It’s pretty serious now,” Fu told RFA in an interview on Monday. “Before, they would just read my posts. But since Article 23, they have even been monitoring my interactions with my friends.”
A friend of his was hauled in for questioning by national security police after Fu left a comment on their Facebook account, he said.
“Now, I daren’t leave comments on my friends’ Facebook [posts],” he said.
Images of activists Simon Cheng, Frances Hui, Joey Siu, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi are displayed during a press conference to issue arrest warrants in Hong Kong, Dec. 14, 2023.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
The Safeguarding National Security bill, commonly known as Article 23, was passed on March 23, 2024.
It came amid a crackdown on dissent that has used both the 2020 National Security Law and colonial-era sedition laws to prosecute and jail people for protest and political opposition in unprecedented numbers.
Chilling effect
The government said the legislation was needed to plug “loopholes” left by the 2020 National Security Law and claims it is needed to deal with clandestine activity by “foreign forces” in the city, which the ruling Communist Party blames for the 2019 mass protest movement that was sparked by plans to allow extradition to mainland China.
The law proposes sentences of up to life imprisonment for “treason,” “insurrection,” “sabotage” and “mutiny,” 20 years for espionage and 10 years for crimes linked to “state secrets” and “sedition.”
It also allows the authorities to revoke the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports of anyone who flees overseas, and to target overseas activists with financial sanctions.
Human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung is seen inside a vehicle after being detained in Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2021.(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
The concept of “collusion with foreign forces ” runs throughout the draft bill, and sentences are harsher where “foreign forces” are deemed to be involved.
Fu said Article 23 has had a chilling effect on Hong Kong-related activism, even overseas, with fewer exiled Hong Kongers turning out for protests and other events in Taiwan.
He said activists still plan to go ahead with a protest marking the first anniversary of the Article 23 legislation in Taipei on Sunday, however.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Center for Asian Law, Georgetown University, said there are other examples of the law being used to censor social media.
In May 2024, Hong Kong police arrested jailed human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung and five other people — the first arrests to be made under the recently passed Article 23 security law — for making social media posts with “seditious intent” ahead of the anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre.
Being watched
He said the government is using the legislation to bolster the feeling that ordinary people are being watched.
“Over the past year, the most common charge used to prosecute people under Article 23 has been sedition,” Lai said. “Sedition is kind of a catch-all offense, and the government is using it to target more ordinary Hong Kongers.”
“The point is to warn Hong Kongers that they’re not immune just because they’re not a political figure … and that ordinary people are also being monitored when they go online,” he said.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University, is seen in an undated photo.(Tang Zheng/RFA)
The government hasn’t made public details of the number of prosecutions under the law to date, but Lai said that the cases that make the news may only be the tip of the iceberg.
He said the recent confiscation of exiled pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui’s assets only came to light because Hui himself spoke out about it.
He said the law grants sweeping powers of surveillance to the authorities, increasing the size of the police dragnet to include everyday comments and activities.
“The biggest difference between Article 23 and the 2020 National Security Law is that Article 23 provides more powers for the Hong Kong government to chip away at the system,” Lai said.
“The government can decide not to parole people if it judges them to be a threat to national security, and it can prevent defendants from seeing a lawyer, and hold them in police stations for longer than before,” he said.
He said it was significant that the Court of Appeal allowed an injunction against the banned 2019 protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” after the Article 23 legislation was passed.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.
The lack of transparency over the death of a teenage student from a prestigious Hong Kong secondary school while on a study trip to mainland China has sparked concerns among parents.
Such trips to the mainland are increasing seen as compulsory by the city government, but the standards regarding access to information in mainland China are far lower than in Hong Kong.
St. Paul’s College, a HK$44,000 (US$5,700)-a-year Christian secondary school, was informed on Feb. 28 that one of its Form 5 students had “passed away,” the school said in a press release dated March 1.
“Our teachers and students are very much saddened by the news,” the statement said, adding that the incident is “currently under investigation and it is inappropriate to speculate.”
The school has deployed a School Crisis Management Team, with educational psychologists, school social workers and guidance personnel offering emotional support to students and teachers, it said.
Students at St. Paul’s College, Hong Kong, undated photo.(St. Paul’s College/Facebook via Facebook)
The Hong Kong government’s Education Bureau said the boy’s death was an “unfortunate accident,” but denied it was linked to the study trip activities, which had gone smoothly.
An online petition calling for more information about the incident was deleted after a day, a former education official told RFA Cantonese.
No photos of the trip had been uploaded to the school’s Facebook page as of March 11.
Shift to patriotic education
Mainland study trips are increasingly seen as compulsory by Hong Kong’s Education Bureau as part of the shift from the former Liberal Studies civic education program to the patriotic Moral, Civic and National Education program in primary and secondary schools favored by Beijing, a former government examinations official told RFA Cantonese.
While the government has sent a delegation to Hangzhou following the incident, it hasn’t commented publicly on how the boy died, prompting concerns among parents.
“As for the unfortunate accident in Hangzhou earlier, we are very sad and extend our deepest condolences to the family,” Secretary for Education Christine Choi told reporters on March 7.
“At present, the investigation has come to an end, and we clearly understand that the incident has nothing to do with the exchange activities or the inspection trip,” she said. “We respect the family’s wishes … and will not disclose the details of the case.”
‘Everything is compulsory’
The lack of transparency around the boy’s death has prompted widespread speculation on social media over the reason for it, including unconfirmed reports that he died in a “schoolyard bullying” incident.
But the government and school have declined to comment.
Hans Yeung, a former government examinations official who runs the Edulancet Instagram account, said the boy’s death comes as the government is urging Hong Kong schools to send students on more and more study trips to mainland China as part of its “sister schools” initiative.
St. Paul’s has sister schools in Xi’an and Shenzhen, with another possible connection to a school in Wuhan, according to its Facebook page.
Under the new approach, a Beijing-backed subject titled “Citizenship and Social Development” has been made a compulsory part of the high school diploma.
Yeung said Hong Kong — once a target for the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s United Front outreach and influence program — is now expected to engage in compulsory patriotic education.
“When it’s United Front, they show you the fun stuff, give you some nice food to make you feel good [about China], but now they are under its rule, so everything is compulsory,” he said.
“Now, the food they get will be very ordinary, and everything will be rushed,” Yeung said, adding that the Education Bureau has made attendance on a mainland China study trip a prerequisite for applicants to take the social studies paper in the high school diploma.
That in turn will affect their eligibility to go to college, he said.
“Citizenship and Social Development … is a compulsory subject, and a small thing like a study trip can affect eligibility to sit the exam,” Yeung said. “If they are ineligible for this exam … they can’t apply to university.”
He said there is little parents can do about this.
“Parents will kick up more of a fuss and ask more questions but … there is no room for protest in the education sector any more,” Yeung said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Matthew Leung for RFA Cantonese.
The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association is appealing to journalists to preserve Facebook live video footage of 2019 protests after Meta said it will start deleting archived videos from its servers.
There are concerns that much of the online footage of those protests, most of which is banned in the city amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent, will no longer be available to the general public.
That will make it easier for the authorities to impose their own narrative on events in the city’s recent history.
Facebook notified users last month that it will be deleting archived live video streams from June 5, while newly streamed live video will be deleted after 30 days from Feb. 19, 2025.
“Since the Hong Kong news media have relied heavily on Facebook Live for reporting in the past, the Journalists Association now calls on the heads of mainstream, independent and citizen media and online editors to back up their videos as soon as possible,” the Hong Kong Journalists Association said.
“If necessary, you can follow the platform’s instructions to apply for an extension to up to six months before deletion,” it said.
Capturing history
In one livestream still available on YouTube from Oct. 1, 2019, an out-of-breath protester collates video feeds from several sources on the ground, commenting on what is unfolding while sounding out of breath from “running” at a protest a minute earlier.
Meta’s webpage outlining their process to update Facebook Live videos.(Meta)
While one feed is run by protesters and the other by a professional journalist, both offer a sense of boots-on-the-ground immediacy that would be crucial for anyone seeking to learn what the protests were about many years later.
A reporter for an online media outlet who gave only the pseudonym Ken for fear of reprisals said a very large proportion of the public record of the 2019 protests was streamed live on Facebook, with more than 100 videos stored there.
While current media organizations have made backups, the footage will no longer be there for anyone to browse, making the record of that year less publicly available, Ken said.
“It’s like we’ve lost an online library,” he said. “Unless someone is willing to back it up and put it all online, there’ll be no way of finding that history any more, should you want to.”
Ken and his colleagues are concerned that online records of the 2019 could disappear entirely in a few years’ time, especially as republishing them from Hong Kong could render the user vulnerable to accusations of “glorifying” the protests, and prosecution under two national security laws.
Photographers document pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, left, as he speaks at the police headquarters in Hong Kong, June 21, 2019.(VIncent Yu/AP)
“This is a very serious problem, because certain events or people may be completely forgotten about in a few years, maybe 10 years,” Ken said.
But there are risks attached to republishing video content — especially for residents of Hong Kong.
“You don’t know whether you will be accused of incitement if you post it again,” Ken said. “You never know what your live broadcast captured and whether there was issue … under the two national security laws.”
Permanent loss of historical material
A fellow journalist who gave only the pseudonym Mr. G for fear of reprisals said his media organization still has access to its own live streamed footage of the 2019 protests from both Facebook and YouTube.
But he said the planned deletions could lead to “the permanent loss of some historical material.”
Facebook said that the owners of the videos will receive an email or notification in advance “and can choose to download the videos, transfer them to the cloud, or convert them into reels short videos within 90 days.”
“If users need more time to process old videos, they can apply to postpone the deadline by 6 months,” it said, adding that most live video is viewed in the first few weeks after being uploaded.
Veteran media commentator To Yiu-ming said social media platforms aren’t suited for use as a historical archive.
“There’s no point criticizing them,” To said. “Users may well encounter similar practices even … if they move to another social media platform.”
“If you want to preserve the historical record, you have to use less convenient methods, and spend a bit of time and money,” he said.
The concerns over the deletion of live video come after a report claimed that Meta was willing to go to “extreme lengths” to censor content and shut down political dissent in a failed attempt to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party and bring Facebook to millions of internet users in China.
Citing a whistleblower complaint by Sarah Wynn-Williams from the company’s China policy team, the Washington Post reported that Meta “so desperately wanted to enter the lucrative China market that it was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content appearing in the country and quash dissenting opinions.”
The notice in Chinese from Facebook warning users that archived live video will be deleted, Feb. 19, 2025.(Meta)
So it developed a censorship system for China in 2015 and planned to install a “chief editor” who would decide what content to remove and could shut down the entire site during times of “social unrest,” according to a copy of the 78-page complaint exclusively seen by The Washington Post.
Meta executives also “stonewalled and provided nonresponsive or misleading information” to investors and American regulators, the complaint said.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the paper that it was “no secret” the company was interested in operating in China.
“This was widely reported beginning a decade ago,” Stone was quoted as saying. “We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we’d explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alice Yam for RFA Cantonese.
A social worker and rights activist was convicted on Tuesday of participating in a riot during Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Jackie Chen was one of several social workers who tried to mediate between police and demonstrators. She carried a loudspeaker and urged police to use restraint and to refrain from firing non-lethal bullets during a protest that took place on Aug. 31, 2019.
Police made more than 10,000 arrests during and after the 2019 protests, which began as a show of mass public anger at plans to allow the extradition of alleged criminal suspects to mainland China.
They broadened to include demands for fully democratic elections and greater official accountability.
Chen was acquitted in 2020, but prosecutors appealed and won a retrial in another example of the harsh stance that Hong Kong authorities have taken with political cases.
Before heading to Hong Kong district court for the verdict, Chen told Radio Free Asia that she felt “peaceful.”
“As long as my body is healthy, there are still a lot of things I can do,” she said. “So why not face it calmly?”
Later, she gathered with supporters in front of the court building while wearing a backpack, a sweatshirt with colorful drawings and a cheerful expression.
Judge May Chung wrote in her verdict that Chen used her position as a social worker to support the protesters and used the loudspeaker to shout unfounded accusations against the police.
Chen was taken into custody and is scheduled to be sentenced next month. She could face up to seven years in prison.
Edited by Matt Reed.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal on Thursday overturned the convictions of jailed human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung and two fellow organizers of a candlelit vigil for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, although the three have already served their sentences.
The ruling relates to charges of failing to hand over alliance documents to national security police, a requirement that only applies to “foreign agents.”
Chow, Tang and Tsui were jailed in 2023 for four-and-a-half months each for refusing to comply with the request.
The Court of Final Appeal cited the use of documents by the prosecution that were “heavily redacted” as a key plank in its decision.
Tang Ngok-kwan, center, a core member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and Medina Chow Lau Wah-chun, left, mother of Chow Hang-tung, a core member, leave the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong, March 6, 2025.(AP)
“The Court held that in such circumstances the redactions were not only self-defeating by removing from evidence the only material relied upon for establishing that the [Alliance] were foreign agents, but also made it impossible for the Appellants to have a fair trial as they were deprived of all knowledge as to the nature of the prosecution’s case on an essential element of the offense,” the judgment said.
“Accordingly, the Court unanimously allowed the appeals, and quashed the convictions and sentences.”
‘Convincing reasons’
Chow made a V sign for “victory” in court after hearing the decision.
Former Alliance member Tang Ngok-kwan told reporters outside the court on Thursday that the ruling had proved that the Alliance was never a “foreign agent” as accused by police.
“Chow Hang-tung … played a leading role in the process and put forward very convincing reasons to explain why the police’s request was an abuse of power, which made us more confident,” Tang said. “She was hugely important in bringing this about.”
“If we hadn’t persisted, we would have been forced to give in, and in the end, the Court of Final Appeal also checked and prevented this abuse of power,” he said.
Overseas-based lawyer Kevin Yam said the police had acted “outrageously” in demanding the Alliance’s documents.
“The Hong Kong police went too far,” he said. “They were deliberately testing how far the National Security Law would allow them to go.”
He said the police actions hadn’t even met the standards of courts in mainland China, which are tasked with doing the bidding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
‘Crime’ of organizing a vigil
Chow remains behind bars pending a separate trial for “incitement to subversion” under the 2020 National Security Law, alongside two other former Alliance leaders, rights lawyer Albert Ho and labor unionist Lee Cheuk-yan.
“Their ‘crime’ is being the organisers of the large public annual vigil which was held in Hong Kong every year on 4 June from 1990 to 2020, to commemorate the victims of the Beijing Massacre on 4 June 1989,” former Hong Kong Bar Association Chairman Paul Harris wrote in a March 6 op-ed piece for the British legal paper The Counsel.
Harris criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not stopping to listen when he tried to raise Chow’s case with him in 2024.
“This was a bad omen for the attitude of a new Labour government towards Hong Kong,” Harris wrote. “Since then my fears have been realised as I watched Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ trade promotion visit to Beijing in which Hong Kong seems to have been studiously ignored.”
Chow has been behind bars since 2021, when she was a recently engaged 36-year-old, with most of that time served in pretrial detention, he said.
“Like her co-defendants, she is detained simply for exercising the rights of free speech and freedom of assembly which were guaranteed to them by Britain and China in 1984, and which are exercised by everyone in the U.K. all the time,” he said.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that her detention is arbitrary, and Amnesty International has recognized her as a prisoner of conscience, he added.
Setback for free speech
The Court of Final Appeal also ruled on Thursday in the sedition case of talk-show host and People Power activist Tam Tak-chi, the first Hong Kong person tried on a sedition charge since the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
Tam had appealed on the basis that free speech must be protected, and that incitement to violence must be proven in sedition cases, but the court rejected that argument on Thursday, upholding his conviction.
Tam, also known by his nickname Fast Beat, was found guilty on eight counts of sedition linked to slogans he either spoke or wrote between January and July 2020.
Hong Kong talk show host Tam Tak-chi is escorted, in hand-restraints, to court from Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, March 2, 2021.(Kin Cheung/AP)
He is also being tried for “inciting an illegal assembly” and “disorderly conduct,” after he gave a number of public speeches calling for the “liberation” of Hong Kong, some of which were peppered with Cantonese swear-words.
Tam also stands accused of using the now-banned slogan of the 2019 protest movement — “Free Hong Kong, revolution now!” — and of saying that the authorities should “delay no more” in disbanding the police force, using a homonym for a Cantonese epithet involving the target’s mother.
Tam allegedly also shouted: “Down with the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party (CCP)!”
1938 law
In the sweeping colonial-era legislation under which Tam’s charges were brought, sedition is defined as any words that generate “hatred, contempt or dissatisfaction” with the government, or “encourage disaffection.”
The law was passed under British rule in 1938, and is widely regarded as illiberal and anti-free speech. However, by the turn of the century, it had lain dormant on the statute books for decades, until being resurrected for use against opposition politicians, activists, and participants in the 2019 protest movement.
The Court rejected Tam’s appeal on Thursday, in a move that the overseas-based Hong Kong Democracy Council said would have “wide-ranging implications” for future sedition cases in Hong Kong.
“It’ll allow the regime to continue to easily convict for sedition,” the Council said via its X account. “Up to now it has a 100% conviction rate … The regime’s used sedition to throttle political speech.”
Kevin Yam said the decision had “set human rights protections in Hong Kong back 70 years, to the 1950s.”
“The chances of being found guilty … are now much greater,” he said, in a reference to “sedition” charges.
Exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui, who is himself wanted by national security police, said the use of “sedition” charges was tantamount to a “literary inquisition” in Hong Kong.
“The door is wide open for the government to use sedition as political retaliation against anyone who says some embarrassing to the government, for example criticizing the budget for cutting bus concessions for the elderly,” Hui told RFA Mandarin.
“The court has made the threshold for sedition convictions very low indeed,” he said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.
A court in Hong Kong has handed down a three-year, one-month jail term to a former pro-democracy lawmaker for “rioting,” after he livestreamed unrest at the height of 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Lam Cheuk-ting’s footage, which appeared on Facebook, showed attacks by white-clad pro-China thugs on passengers at the Yuen Long Mass Transit Railway station on July 21 of that year.
It depicted panicked passengers and bystanders calling for police help that took nearly 40 minutes to arrive.
Lam, 47, who was himself attacked for his pains, was sent to the hospital with head and arm injuries that required about 18 stitches.
Lam is currently serving a prison sentence of nearly seven years for “subversion” as one of the 47 pro-democracy activists prosecuted for organizing a democratic primary in the summer of 2020.
He can expect to serve 34 months of his rioting sentence after that term finishes.
Courts have skewed toward Beijing
Since the imposition of the 2020 National Security Law, Hong Kong’s once-independent courts have tended to issue rulings along pro-Beijing lines, particularly in politically sensitive cases, according to a 2024 report by law experts at Georgetown University.
Lam, a former Legislative Council member, was sentenced on Thursday alongside six other people convicted of the same charge, despite not being among the white-clad mob.
District Judge Stanley Chan said the defendants had taken part in “another riot” inside the station that was triggered by the attacks from the men wielding sticks and clubs.
He handed down sentences ranging between two years, one month to three years, one month.
Referring to 2019 as “the year when the Pearl of the Orient lost its luster,” Chan said that the defendants had “responded to provocation” from around 100 men in white, about a dozen of whom have since been jailed for “rioting” and “conspiring to wound with intent.”
Chan said Lam hadn’t tried to calm people down, but had rather added “fuel to the flames” by providing a gathering point for people trying to resist the attacks.
6 others sentenced
The six other defendants — Yu Ka Ho, Jason Chan, Yip Kam Sing, Kwong Ho Lam, Wan Chung Ming and Marco Yeung — were sentenced to between 25-31 months.
They had tried to form a defensive line against the attackers, using fire extinguishers and water bottles, and pleaded self-defense during their trial.
But Chan said their actions were “unlawful assembly” and “breach of the peace,” saying that some of them had yelled at the attackers in white to come and fight them, as well as throwing objects at them.
“It is clear that at the time in question … the defendants became the rioters,” he told the sentencing hearing.
During the attack–carried out by dozens of unidentified thugs in white T-shirts carrying wooden and metal poles–police were inundated with emergency calls, but didn’t move in until 39 minutes after it began.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting gestures outside of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Magistrates Court on Aug. 27, 2020.(Anthony Wallace/AFP)
In a recent book about the protests, former Washington Post Hong Kong correspondent Shibani Mahtani and The Atlantic writer Timothy McLaughlin wrote that the Hong Kong authorities knew about the attacks in advance.
Members of Hong Kong’s criminal underworld “triad” organizations had been discussing the planned attack for days on a WhatsApp group that was being monitored by a detective sergeant from the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, the book said.
The weeks and months after the incident saw a massive wave of public anger at the police, who were later seen as legitimate targets for doxxing and even violent attacks.
But instead of investigating, then Chief Executive Carrie Lam rejected any allegations of collusion, and later quashed a full report from the city’s police supervisory body on the handling of the protests.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party insists that the 2019 protests were an attempt by “hostile foreign forces” to foment an uprising against the government in Hong Kong.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Eugene Whong.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Hong Kong plans to eliminate 10,000 civil service jobs and freeze public sector salaries as part of an effort to curb a growing fiscal deficit, its top finance official announced on Wednesday, as the city grapples with its third year of budget shortfalls.
Hong Kong’s deficit for the fiscal year ending in March 2025 stands at an estimated HK$87.2 billion (US$11.2 billion), following deficits of HK$122 billion in 2022/23 and HK$101.6 billion the previous year.
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan outlined in his 2025 budget speech on Wednesday measures to address the financial challenges, including a 7% reduction in government spending over the next three years.
As part of the initiative, the government will cut 10,000 civil service positions by April 2027, representing a 2% workforce reduction per year over the next two years, said Chan.
“The spending cut will establish a sustainable fiscal foundation for future development,” said Chan. “It provides a clear pathway toward restoring fiscal balance in the operating account in a planned and progressive manner.”
Chan added he had also instructed all government bureaus and departments to reassess resource allocation and work priorities. He emphasized the need for streamlining procedures, consolidating resources and leveraging technology to deliver public services more effectively.
Challenges after National Security Law
Since the introduction of a National Security Law in 2020, in response to sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before, Hong Kong’s economy has faced mounting challenges, including U.S. and Western sanctions, capital outflows, and shifts in investor confidence.
Gross domestic product contracted by 6.1% in 2020 before rebounding to 6.4% in 2021, but growth has since slowed to 3.2% in 2023 and 2.5% in 2024.
The real estate sector has been hit hard, with property prices dropping nearly 30%, significantly reducing government revenue from land sales, which once contributed over 20% but now make up only about 5%.
The city’s financial sector has remained a cornerstone of its economy, attracting Chinese company listings.
In 2024, funds raised through initial public offerings, or IPOs, in Hong Kong more than doubled in the first three quarters, despite a global downturn in IPO activity. This surge is attributed to market efficiency improvements and enhanced access to mainland financial markets.
However, the landscape has shifted, with multinationals increasingly reconsidering their presence in the city. Western banks play a diminished role in major IPOs, leading to layoffs and a strategic pivot towards wealth management over investment banking – a trend reflecting Hong Kong’s closer alignment with Beijing and a retreat of Western financial players.
The retail and tourism sectors, once vital to the city’s economy, have faced significant challenges due to pandemic restrictions and a decline in mainland Chinese visitors.
In November 2024, retail sales fell by 7.3% year-on-year, marking the ninth consecutive month of decline. Notably, 53% of mainland visitors were day-trippers, spending about HK$1,400 each – 42% less than in 2018.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.
