Hong Kong's pro-democracy books suspended from lending
Jul 05, 2020
Hong Kong, July 5 : The pro-China Carrie Lam government has started implementing the national security law to quash dissent as after banning the annual pro-democracy march in Hong Kong, the government in its latest move has started suspending the lending of several books written by pro-democracy activists from public libraries.
The Hong Kong Standard reported that in the public library's website several books written by Joshua Wong Chi-fung, localist Wan Chin and Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan are "under review" and no longer available for lending.
Joshua Wong tweeted, "Less than a week after #NationalSecurityLaw has been put in place, #Hongkong's public libraries started to put books under review and suspend them from lending, including two of mine published in 2013 and 2015."
"More than just punitive measures, the national security law also imposes a mainland-style censorship regime upon this international financial city. Although my books are published years before Hong Kong's anti-extradition movement, they are now prone to book censorship," he said in the following tweet.
The Hong Kong Standard reported that while China's other books were still available for borrowing, "On the Hong Kong City-State" and "Hong Kong State-survivors" have been suspended from lending.
Similarly, Chan's book about protests has been placed under review, while her other books are still available.
According to media reports, several pro-democracy activists are fleeing their homeland. Nathan Law, a former lawmaker and pro-democracy activist, on Thursday, announced on his Facebook that he has left Hong Kong, with China imposing the national security law in the city.
The Chinese government has appointed Zheng Yanxiong as head of a powerful new agency being established in Hong Kong to oversee the implementation of controversial national security law.
The Chinese Parliament on Tuesday passed the controversial legislation for Hong Kong, ignoring the worldwide outcry and protest in the semi-autonomous city against the law.
