Overview
- Police detained two people on suspicion of displaying and selling publications with seditious intent during an operation in Sham Shui Po on Wednesday.
- Local outlets reported the detained pair were the proprietors of the independent Hunter bookstore and that the woman was former pro-democracy district councillor Leticia Wong, though police gave only ages.
- Officers seized books and documents from the shop and a residence, and local images showed police removing protest-linked song lyrics from the shop window and reports named a Jimmy Lai biography among the items taken.
- The suspects are being held under the 2024 ‘homegrown’ national security law and face up to seven years for alleged sedition and up to 14 years for alleged money‑laundering tied to foreign remittances.
- Human rights groups and the book’s author called the arrests censorship, and the action follows earlier bookstore probes and arrests that critics say show an expanding crackdown on independent publishers and dissent in Hong Kong.