Democracy books disappear from Hong Kong’s libraries

Books written by prominent Hong Kong democracy activists have started to disappear from the city’s libraries.

Joshua Wong, left, with Nathan Law, said he believed the removal of the books was sparked by the security law. Picture: AFP

Books written by prominent Hong Kong democracy activists have begun to disappear from the city’s libraries, online records show, days after Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on the finance hub.

Among the authors whose titles are no longer available are Joshua Wong, one of the city’s most prominent young activists, and Tanya Chan, a well-known pro-democracy politician.

Beijing’s new national security law has sent fear coursing through a city used to speaking openly, with police arresting people for possessing slogans pushing independence or greater autonomy and businesses scrambling to remove protest displays.

Mr Wong said he believed the removal of the books was sparked by the security law. “White terror continues to spread, the national security law is fundamentally a tool to incriminate speech,” he wrote on Facebook, using a phrase that refers to political persecution.

Searches on the public library website showed at least three titles by Mr Wong, Ms Chan and local scholar Chin Wan are no longer available for lending at any of dozens of outlets across the city.

An AFP reporter was unable to find the titles at a public library in the district of Wong Tai Sin on Saturday afternoon.

The city’s leisure and cultural services department said it would provide a statement later.

AFP