Hong Kong's last active pro-democracy group says it will disband amid security crackdown
By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong's League of Social Democrats said on Sunday that it would disband amid "immense political pressure" from a five year-long national security crackdown, leaving the China-ruled city with no formal pro-democracy opposition presence.
The LSD becomes the third major opposition party to shutter in Hong Kong in the past two years.
Co-founded in 2006 by former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung as a radical wing of the pro-democracy camp, the LSD is the last group in Hong Kong to stage small protests this year.
Mass public gatherings and marches spearheaded by political and civil society groups had been common in Hong Kong until 2020, but the threat of prosecution has largely shut down organized protests since.
China imposed a national security law on the former British colony in 2020, punishing offences like subversion with possible life imprisonment following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
A second set of laws, known as Article 23, was passed in 2024 by the city's pro-Beijing legislature covering crimes such as sedition and treason.
Current chair Chan Po-ying said the group had been "left with no choice" and after considering the safety of party members had decided to shutdown. Chan declined to specify what pressures they had faced.
"We have endured hardships of internal disputes and the near total imprisonment of our leadership while witnessing the erosion of civil society, the fading of grassroots voices, the omnipresence of red lines and the draconian suppression of dissent," Chan told reporters, while flanked by six other core members including Tsang Kin-shing, Dickson Chau, Raphael Wong, Figo Chan and Jimmy Sham.
In February, the Democratic Party, the city's largest and most popular opposition party, announced it would disband. Several senior members told Reuters they had been warned by Beijing that a failure to do so would mean serious consequences including possible arrests.
Earlier this month, China's top official on Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, stressed national security work must continue as hostile forces were still interfering in the city.
"We must clearly see that the anti-China and Hong Kong chaos elements are still ruthless and are renewing various forms of soft resistance," Xia said in a speech in Hong Kong.
The League of Social Democrats is one of Hong Kong's smaller pro-democracy groups known for its more aggressive tactics and street protests in its advocacy of universal suffrage and grassroots causes including a universal pension scheme. In a 2016 incident, Leung threw a round object at former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying inside the legislature.
Three LSD members were fined on June 12 by a magistrate for setting up a street booth where a blank black cloth was displayed and money was collected in public without official permission. Chan told reporters that the party had no assets to divest and no funds left after several of its bank accounts were shut down in 2023.
While never as popular as the more moderate Democratic Party and Civic Party, it gained three seats in a 2008 legislative election - its best showing.
The LSD's founder Leung, 69, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in 2021 in the landmark '47 Democrats' case. He is currently serving a sentence of six years and nine months in prison. Another member, Jimmy Sham, was also jailed in the same case and released in May.
The security laws have been criticised as a tool of repression by the U.S. and Britain, but China says they have restored stability with 332 people so far arrested under these laws.
"I hope that the people of Hong Kong will continue to pay attention to the vulnerable, and they will continue to speak out for injustice," Figo Chan said.
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The Hong Kong Chief Executive's office has not immediately commented. Anonymous denunciations Others say they have lost opportunities after anonymous letters were sent to employers or business partners. Wong said an anonymous letter sent to an organization that had planned an event at her shop prompted them to cancel the booking. Separately, she lost a freelance job after a funder demanded that a social enterprise not hire her without a specific reason. Her landlord also received an anonymous letter warning them not to rent the space to her. 'I feel that this society is working very hard — that is, within the system, under the official system, working very hard to reject me, or to make my life difficult,' Wong said. Chan Kim-kam, another former district councilor, says she lost both a part-time job and a role in a play after the people she worked for were pressured. 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Her records show government authorities took measures against her shop some 92 times between July 2022 and June 2025, including inspecting her shop, conspicuously patrolling outside, or sending letters warning her of violations. She has been studying regulations to protect herself from accidentally breaking them. 'Some areas look trivial — and they really are — but they still have the power to make you face consequences,' she said. In an emailed reply to The Associated Press, the fire department said it conducted checks at Wong's business following multiple complaints this year. Wong's bookstore passed most of them but still faces enforcement action for failing to provide valid certificates for two fire extinguishers and its emergency lighting system, it said. Other small business owners described similar experiences. A bakery that put up pro-democracy decorations during the 2019 protests saw food authorities' inspections jump from quarterly to monthly over the past one to two years, mostly over labeling complaints. Its owner, who asked to remain anonymous fearing government retribution, said the frequent inspections made running the business a struggle. A restaurant owner who received the notice of the newly added terms on possible license revocation over national security violations said he doesn't know what could be considered a violation and fears one wrong move could cost his staff their jobs. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing potential impact on his business partners and employees. Food authorities said inspections follow the law, information and public complaints. They maintained that the new national security conditions for food business licenses were clearly defined and would not affect law-abiding operators. The Hong Kong Chief Executive's office has not immediately commented. Anonymous denunciations Others say they have lost opportunities after anonymous letters were sent to employers or business partners. Wong said an anonymous letter sent to an organization that had planned an event at her shop prompted them to cancel the booking. Separately, she lost a freelance job after a funder demanded that a social enterprise not hire her without a specific reason. Her landlord also received an anonymous letter warning them not to rent the space to her. 'I feel that this society is working very hard — that is, within the system, under the official system, working very hard to reject me, or to make my life difficult,' Wong said. Chan Kim-kam, another former district councilor, says she lost both a part-time job and a role in a play after the people she worked for were pressured. A school where she taught sociology part-time asked her to leave after it received a letter claiming that she made a student uncomfortable. The letter, which was written in the simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China but less prominently in Hong Kong, included links to news reports about her arrest under the homegrown national security law last year, though she was never charged. Meanwhile, the city's Leisure and Cultural Services Department told her drama group to replace her or lose their venue, she said. 'I think it's really such a pity. When the culture of reporting people has become so intense, it destroys the trust between people,' she said. Cultural authorities, declining to discuss specific bookings, said all their venue bookings were managed under established procedures. Rule of law in question Hong Kong leader John Lee has said the security law upholds the rule of law principle and only an extremely small portion of people were targeted. He noted 332 people have been arrested for offenses related to national security, about 66 each year on average, or 0.2% of the police's annual arrest figures. Still, he warned of persisting soft resistance, saying 'the streets are full of petty people.' Local broadcaster i-Cable News said national security guidelines would be issued to government workers. Secretary for Security Chris Tang told the broadcaster that even a cleaner should report words endangering national security, if any are found during their job. But Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said Hong Kong is using regulatory powers to monitor and regulate dissent without checks and balances. Local courts were unable to check the powers granted to the government under the security laws, he said. It fits a common pattern among undemocratic governments like mainland China, he said. In many cases across the border, law enforcement officers frequently harass and surveil dissenters without formal charges. 'It tells the world that the so-called rule of law in Hong Kong is only a facade of rule by men,' he said. Outside a court on Jun. 12, members of the pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats protested against their convictions over street booth activities with a banner that says 'rule of law in name, silencing voices in reality.' They were fined for collecting money without a permit and displaying posters without approval. The judge said freedom of expression was not absolute and restrictions could be imposed to maintain public order. On Sunday, the party announced it had dissolved, citing immense political pressure and consideration of consequences for its members, months after the city's biggest pro-democracy party announced to move toward disbandment. Its chairperson Chan Po-ying wiped away tears at the news conference. 'In the past, the government said it focused on a small portion of people. Now, it includes various kinds of people in Hong Kong, ordinary residents,' she said.
