Hong Kong police raid two bookstores, arrest five people

Key Points:

• Hong Kong police raided two independent bookstores, Have A Nice Stay and Greenfield Book Store, arresting five people on suspicion of selling seditious publications under the 2024 national security law.
• The raids followed customs officials’ discovery of allegedly seditious books imported from overseas, with police accusing the publications of inciting hatred against the government, judiciary, and law enforcement.
• This marks the third crackdown on independent bookstores in Hong Kong this year, following earlier arrests in March and June, contributing to the decline of the once-thriving independent bookstore industry.
• Amnesty International condemned the arrests as a weaponization of sedition laws to silence dissent and restrict free expression, while Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te expressed support for bookstores as vital spaces for safeguarding thought and writing.
• The national security law, imposed by China in 2024, carries penalties of up to seven years in prison for those convicted of sedition-related offenses, intensifying concerns over shrinking freedoms in Hong Kong.