Hong Kong Police Have Raided Two Independent Bookstores And Arrested Five People For Selling Books
Police said the group had displayed and sold materials whose content could "stir up hatred" against Hong Kong's government and authorities.
Hong Kong police raided two independent bookstores and arrested five people under the National Security Law for selling books.
Following pro-democracy protests in 2019, China imposed a National Security Law in Hong Kong, giving police sweeping new powers to arrest people for acts it considers a threat to the government.
In March 2024, Hong Kong's government passed a second, even broader national security law that made it easier for the government to crack down on opposition.
Under the new law, known as Article 23, people can face up to life in prison if they are found guilty of “endangering national security”.
It also increased the sentence for “sedition” — speech or activities rebelling against authorities — meaning people can now be jailed for 10 years for criticizing the government.
On Wednesday, July 15, national security police searched the Have A Nice Stay and Greenfield Bookstores, two small shops in Hong Kong's Kowloon district, after officials flagged the stores had received what officials said were “seditious” books from an overseas shipment.
Have A Nice Stay was founded in 2022 by a group of former journalists, some of whom had worked at Stand News, an independent outlet that police raided and shut down in 2021.
The shop mainly sold books about media literacy, democracy and authoritarianism.
It had already announced plans to close by Aug. 30, citing financial pressure and what it called the "social climate," saying in a notice that staff could not possibly review every book they stocked to determine which might be considered "problematic" by the government.
Police arrested five people total, including two men, aged 37 and 57, and three women, aged 30 to 59, and seized boxes of books.
Videos and photos showed police taking a woman employee, who walked out head held high while handcuffed, wearing a t-shirt that read "I am a bookseller".
In a statement, police said the group had displayed and sold materials whose content could "stir up hatred" against Hong Kong's government and authorities.
This is the third time in 2026 that police have targeted independent bookstores under the National Security Law.
In March, police arrested the owner and three staff members of Book Punch, a shop that had sold a biography of pro-democracy media tycoon and founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in a separate national security case.
In June, police arrested Hunter Bookstore owner Letitia Wong and her husband, accusing Wong of also receiving money from foreign political organizations.
All were later released on bail, according to the Guardian.
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Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
