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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Five years on, Hong Kong's national security law extinguishes another pro-democracy party
In a cramped, dark office, in front of a wall adorned by some misshapen shelves, faded photographs, and a single fan battling against the summer heat, the last of Hong Kong's active opposition groups admitted defeat. Behind them, a sticky-taped banner declared: 'We'd rather be ashes than dust.' Dozens of reporters had crammed inside this room on Sunday to hear the announcement that many knew was coming. The League of Social Democrats (LSD), an almost 20-year-old opposition party, was officially disbanding. The disbandment of the LSD on Sunday marks a success for Hong Kong authorities. Five years ago on Tuesday, authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong imposed a sweeping national security law (NSL) that critics immediately said would be used as a weapon to demolish institutional opposition in the city. The LSD held out longer than most, but the shuttering of the party has shown just how comprehensively the law worked. They had no choice 'in the face of immense political pressure', the party's chair, Chan Po-ying, said in a statement. '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.' She added: 'We leave with heavy hearts, and with an ache in our conscience, knowing we will not be the last to fall. The terrain ahead is even more treacherous.' The LSD was founded in 2006 as a more radical arm of the pro-democracy camp, pushing the leftwing issues beyond their more moderate stable mates the Civic party (which disbanded in 2023), and the Democratic party (which began dissolution processes in February). It advocated not just for the city's political freedom and autonomy but also the rights of worker and other grassroots causes. 'Guided by the principle of 'standing unflinchingly with the vulnerable', we amplified silenced voices and exposed unjust policies and wasteful white elephant projects,' the LSD said in its farewell social media post. By mid 2020, there was a tense calm in Hong Kong. The mass street protests that swamped the city in 2019 had mostly stopped, with everyone ordered inside by the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 9,000 people involved in the pro-democracy protests had been arrested, and police were using new pandemic laws to break up fresh efforts at activism. But walking around the quiet streets in those months, there were still signs of resistance – graffitied stairs under a bridge, Lennon Walls of sticky notes plastered across university campuses. People still spoke in anger with relative freedom. An election on the horizon promised hope. Then came a new tool. Beijing sidelined Hong Kong authorities and announced in May 2020 that it would impose its own law on the city. Within a year, Guardian analysis found at least 128 people – including minors, politicians and journalists – had been arrested by the police's national security department, some of them multiple times, for acts including possession of a protest flag. A new report by Amnesty International, published this week, found that between 30 June 2020 and 17 June 2025, 332 people were arrested for 'cases involving suspected acts or activities that 'endanger national security' under 'all relevant laws', which included the NSL and a follow-up domestic law that echoed and bolstered the NSL. It said 189 had been charged, including 91 under the NSL, of which 76 were convicted. It said 85% of concluded cases involved 'only legitimate expression that should not have been criminalised', that courts denied bail in 89% of national security cases; and that pre-trial detention stretched to an average of 11 months. This showed that the law breached international human rights law and standards, the report said. Perhaps the most high-profile trial was that of media mogul Jimmy Lai. Lai, 78, was arrested and charged alongside executives at the media company he founded, accused of using the Apple Daily newspaper to publish seditious articles, and conspiring to commit foreign collusion by asking other countries to impose sanctions. Having already spent more than four years in solitary confinement, Lai is facing life in prison if found guilty. 'Hong Kong is now a place where some of its bravest and brightest citizens are sitting in jail,' Lai's son Sebastien said. 'This has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with criminalising the desire for freedom.' The impact of the law isn't just on those who have been arrested. The vagueness of its terms has cast a well-documented chill on almost every sector of the city. It has smothered everyday discussion of politics, society, school curriculums, and the contents of books and mobile games, with the threat that to do so could break the law. It has underwritten an era of broader political repression. Electoral reforms have ensured that only pro-Beijing 'patriots' can run in that promised election. Foreign judges are leaving Hong Kong's benches, with several citing the new environment. Media outlets have closed, moved overseas or faced frequent 'random' tax audits and investigations. Artists have fled after appearing on blacklists. Meanwhile, security officials have now turned their sights on 'soft resistance'. Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch, said: 'In just five years, the Chinese government has extinguished Hong Kong's political and civil vibrancy and replaced it with the uniformity of enforced patriotism.' The Hong Kong government rejects all criticism. It praises the law and those who wield it for bringing order back to a city that was in chaos. It has accused Amnesty of 'gross distortion of the reality' with its report, and of showing 'complete disregard of the indisputable positive effects brought about' by the new laws in the past five years. Emily Lau is one of a few public political figures still speaking out. Lau served as a legislator for a quarter of a century until 2016, and is a former chair of the Democratic party. 'People will say that civil society is collapsing,' she tells the Guardian. She cites a well-known law professor who said people can complain about a law but not break it. 'But some people say now you don't know when you are stepping on the red line.' Asked if she has hope that it might come back, Lau says: 'I will never say never. Maybe it wont happen in my lifetime, but i'm not going to thrown my hands up in despair and say that's it.'
Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
‘Domino effect': One of Hong Kong's last opposition parties disbands under pressure
HONG KONG, June 30 — One of Hong Kong's last remaining opposition parties has officially disbanded, its leader announced Sunday, citing 'immense political pressure' as Beijing presses on with its years-long crackdown on dissent. The League of Social Democrats (LSD), founded in 2006, championed democratisation and grassroots issues in Hong Kong's legislature and on the streets. It is the latest opposition party to cease operating after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 to curb dissent and end democracy protests that had brought the financial hub to a standstill. 'In the face of immense political pressure and after careful deliberation — particularly with regard to the consequences for our members and comrades — we have made the difficult decision to disband,' LSD said in a statement. Party chair Chan Po-ying said at a press conference that the decision to disband had been unanimous. Asked if the pressure had come from Beijing's middlemen, Chan said she could not disclose details. LSD, which had called for direct elections for the city's leader and legislature, won three seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council at the height of its popularity in 2008. Its lawmakers were known for their colourful heckling and symbolic protests in legislative sessions, which included lobbing bananas and fish sandwiches at the city's leadership. 'Domino effect' Fernando Cheung, spokesperson for Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas, said LSD's dissolution 'further reveals the near purging of Hong Kong's pan-democratic political parties and civil society organisations'. After the imposition of the national security law and with most of the city's democracy campaigners jailed or overseas, the Civic Party closed in 2023 and in February, the Democratic Party began winding down. One of LSD's founding members, 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung, remains behind bars after being found guilty of subversion last year, as part of Hong Kong's largest national security trial. Another LSD activist, Jimmy Sham, was also jailed in the same case. He was released from prison last month. In recent years, LSD had limited its public activities to a Sunday street booth in a shopping district where a handful of activists handed out flyers while filmed by police. Chan said that Hong Kong is witnessing a 'domino effect' and that her group will not be the last to fold, urging people 'on the one hand to survive, and on the other hand to try to exercise our rights as citizens'. — AFP
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong opposition party folds, citing ‘immense political pressure'
Read more about this: The Hong Kong opposition group League of Social Democrats announced on June 29, 2025, that it would disband, citing "immense political pressure" and member safety. The group, known for protests and civil disobedience, is the third major opposition party to dissolve since Hong Kong enacted the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020. Chairwoman Chan Po-ying said the group had 'no other choice'.
Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
One of Hong Kong's last major pro-democracy parties disbands
HONG KONG — On the wall of the League of Social Democrats office, the Chinese characters for freedom are spelt out with court admission slips. Members of the party take turns speaking into a microphone connected to a loudspeaker. They stand in front of a banner that reads "rather be ashes than dust", written in Chinese. Founded close to 20 years ago, the party is known as the last protest group in Hong Kong. "The red lines are now everywhere," Chan Po Ying, the chair of the party, tells the BBC. "Our decision to disband was because we were facing a lot of pressure." She added that everything in Hong Kong has become politicised, and she was not in a position to go into more detail to elaborate the reasons. The party is the third major opposition party to disband this year in Hong Kong. The group known for its street protests said it had made the decision after "careful deliberation" and to avoid "consequences" for its members. The announcement to disband comes just days ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Beijing-imposed national security law. The party said it could not elaborate on the timing of its closure, but said it faced "intense pressure." "Over these 19 years, 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," it said in a statement. The authorities said the national security law was needed in order to restore order after a year of often violent protests in 2019. But five years on, critics say it has been used to dismantle the political opposition. In June, a Chinese official claimed 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 Baolong said in a speech. The national security law criminalises charges such as subversion. In 2024 Hong Kong passed a domestic national security law known as Article 23, criminalising crimes such as sedition and treason. Today the majority of Hong Kong's political opposition have either fled the territory or have been detained. "I think it's no longer safe to actually run a political party. I think the political rights have almost totally gone in Hong Kong," vice-chairman Dickson Chau told the BBC. On 12 June, three members were fined by a magistrates' court for hanging a banner at a street booth while collecting money from the public without permission. Critics say opposition groups face political persecution. Chau says the party's bank accounts were closed in 2023. Over the last five years, six party members have been imprisoned. "A place without any meaningful political party, then people sooner or later will forget how strong they are going to be if they can group together and voice out in a collective manner," said Chau. "If I do nothing then why am I here in Hong Kong?". He said even if he was not politically active, he feared he could still find himself a target of the police and be pressured to leave Hong Kong by the authorities. "The future is very difficult as a citizen. If you want to exercise your right as a citizen it's very difficult. Not only for the politician or the activist, even the ordinary people need to think twice," said Chau. "It's a dilemma I didn't expect to face in Hong Kong for just being an activist," he added. — BBC
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
One of Hong Kong's last major pro-democracy parties disbands
On the wall of the League of Social Democrats office, the Chinese characters for freedom are spelt out with court admission slips. Members of the party take turns speaking into a microphone connected to a loudspeaker. They stand in front of a banner that reads "rather be ashes than dust", written in Chinese. Founded close to 20 years ago, the party is known as the last protest group in Hong Kong. "The red lines are now everywhere," Chan Po Ying, the chair of the party, tells the BBC. "Our decision to disband was because we were facing a lot of pressure." She added that everything in Hong Kong has become politicised, and she was not in a position to go into more detail to elaborate the reasons. The party is the third major opposition party to disband this year in Hong Kong. The group known for its street protests said it had made the decision after "careful deliberation" and to avoid "consequences" for its members. The announcement to disband comes just days ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Beijing-imposed national security law. The party said it could not elaborate on the timing of its closure, but said it faced "intense pressure." "Over these 19 years, 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," it said in a statement. The authorities said the national security law was needed in order to restore order after a year of often violent protests in 2019. But five years on, critics say it has been used to dismantle the political opposition. In June, a Chinese official claimed 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 Baolong said in a speech. The national security law criminalises charges such as subversion. In 2024 Hong Kong passed a domestic national security law known as Article 23, criminalising crimes such as sedition and treason. Today the majority of Hong Kong's political opposition have either fled the territory or have been detained. "I think it's no longer safe to actually run a political party. I think the political rights have almost totally gone in Hong Kong," vice-chairman Dickson Chau told the BBC. On 12 June, three members were fined by a magistrates' court for hanging a banner at a street booth while collecting money from the public without permission. Critics say opposition groups face political persecution. Chau says the party's bank accounts were closed in 2023. Over the last five years, six party members have been imprisoned. "A place without any meaningful political party, then people sooner or later will forget how strong they are going to be if they can group together and voice out in a collective manner," said Chau. "If I do nothing then why am I here in Hong Kong?". He said even if he was not politically active, he feared he could still find himself a target of the police and be pressured to leave Hong Kong by the authorities. "The future is very difficult as a citizen. If you want to exercise your right as a citizen it's very difficult. Not only for the politician or the activist, even the ordinary people need to think twice," said Chau. "It's a dilemma I didn't expect to face in Hong Kong for just being an activist," he added. HK security law is final nail in coffin, say critics Silenced and erased, Hong Kong's decade of protest is now a defiant memory
