(30 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 20 June 2025
1. Wide pan exterior of Hunter bookstore
2. Close of a small decoration in Chinese reading “Freedom” on its glass door
3. Various of Leticia Wong, former district councilor and bookstore owner inside bookstore and arranging books
4. Wide of Wong walking to the second floor of the bookstore
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Leticia Wong, former district councilor and bookstore owner:
“I think Hong Kong people are now scared of unknown which we are facing a new normal, a new Hong Kong that with many regulations, many ambiguous red lines and many self-censoring things. So if they’re really scared of the NSL (National Security Law) itself, I don’t think so because normal people have so little chance to face about NSL. But they are afraid of the unknown that what they have now, the certainty in their life will be taken very easy, in a short period.”
6. Various of Chan Kim-kam, former district councilor and stall owner at her stall
7. SOUNDBITE (Cantonese) Chan Kim-kam, former district councilor and stall owner:
“Over the past five years, I feel that the space for me is reducing. I feel that people like informing the authorities all the time, it’s rather irrational and abnormal. It affects my life because people inform the authorities and send complaint letters about my store and my works.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 17 June 2025
8. Wide of Hong Kong leader John Lee walking in weekly media briefing
9. Close of a photojournalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) John Lee, Hong Kong Chief Executive:
“When we promulgated the Hong Kong National Security Law, we make it very clear that the law is aiming at only a small portion of people who endangers national security.”
11. Pan of media briefing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hong Kong – 27 June 2025
12. Wide exterior of Hong Kong government headquarters
13. Close of Chinese and Hong Kong flags
14. Shift focus from barricade to Chinese emblem
15. Wide of Chinese and Hong Kong flags
16. Various of Chinese and Hong Kong flags decoration on a street in Kowloon
STORYLINE:
It’s been years since mass arrests all but silenced pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong.
But a crackdown on dissent in the semiautonomous Chinese city is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses.
Shops and eateries owned by people once associated with the largely subdued pro-democracy movement are feeling a tightening grip through increased official inspections, anonymous complaint letters and other regulatory checks.
Those critical of the city’s political changes say it’s a less visible side of a push to silence dissent that began five years ago when Beijing imposed a national security law to crush challenges to its rule, under which opposition politicians were jailed and pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was shuttered.
China said the law was necessary for the city’s stability following anti-government protests in 2019.
In 2024, the city passed its own national security law, which has been used to jail people for actions like writing pro-independence messages on the back of bus seats and wearing a T-shirt carrying a protest slogan that authorities deemed could imply the separation of Hong Kong from China, a red line for Beijing.
In recent weeks, food authorities sent letters to restaurants warning that their business licenses could be revoked if the government deems them to be endangering national security or public interest.
It happens most often around June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
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