HONG KONG (AP) — Law enforcement officers in Hong Kong descended on two independent bookstores Wednesday, detaining five individuals suspected of selling publications considered seditious, according to local media reports.
Video footage and photographs captured by several news organizations showed officers in police-marked vests removing boxes from the building that houses Have A Nice Stay, a bookshop established by former journalists. One bookseller was visibly escorted away by authorities.
Just a short distance away, a comparable scene unfolded at Greenfield Book Store, where officers were also seen removing boxes from the premises, as documented by online news outlet The Collective.
Police later confirmed they had conducted raids at two locations in the Mong Kok district, though they did not name the stores. Authorities said two men and three women were taken into custody on suspicion of violating the 2024 national security law.
Wednesday’s action represents the third wave of arrests connected to independent bookstores this year, following earlier operations in March and June — moves widely interpreted as efforts to suppress dissent in the prominent Asian financial center.
According to a police statement, investigators determined that the five suspects were believed to have displayed and sold seditious materials on-site. The content of those publications allegedly included material intended to stir up hostility toward Hong Kong’s government, courts, and law enforcement, authorities said.
Police indicated that customs officials had first flagged the case after discovering allegedly seditious books within a shipment of goods arriving in Hong Kong from abroad, though no specific titles were named.
Both stores were closed during their normal business hours on Wednesday. Attempts to reach Greenfield and a co-founder of Have A Nice Stay by phone went unanswered.
Have A Nice Stay had previously announced plans to close permanently on August 30, citing financial hardship and what it described as an unclear boundary of acceptable content in a social media post.
Hong Kong was historically recognized for its robust freedom of the press and open expression. The city even attracted residents from mainland China who crossed the border to purchase politically sensitive books unavailable at home.
Lam Wing-kee, who operated Causeway Bay Books until his death earlier this month, drew global attention in 2016 when he revealed he had been detained by Chinese authorities after traveling from Hong Kong to the city of Shenzhen. Four other individuals connected to the same bookstore had vanished in late 2015.
Lam’s disclosures alarmed many in the former British territory, where Beijing had pledged to preserve Western-style civil liberties for 50 years following Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.
Since the political upheaval triggered by anti-government demonstrations in 2019, independent booksellers have faced an increasingly difficult operating environment.
Officials maintain that national security legislation is essential to maintaining stability in the city. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang has stated that the government has no plans to publish a formal list of banned books, calling such a measure impractical.
In March, police arrested the owner and employees of the independent Book Punch store, reportedly on suspicion of selling seditious publications — including the biography of former pro-democracy media figure Jimmy Lai, who received a 20-year prison sentence in his own national security case.
In June, two additional booksellers were arrested on suspicion of selling seditious publications and receiving money from foreign political groups.
All individuals arrested in those previous incidents were subsequently released on bail.
