Five people were arrested at two independent bookstores over books Hong Kong police said had "seditious intention" under the city's national security law.
Police officers load confiscated items from an independent bookstore after the officers raided the Have A Nice Stay bookshop and arrested employees in Hong Kong on Jul 15, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Tommy Wang)
16 Jul 2026 04:33AM
(Updated: 16 Jul 2026 04:40AM)
HONG KONG: Hong Kong police raided a bookstore run by former journalists on Wednesday (Jul 15), AFP reporters saw, the latest in a string of crackdowns on independent bookshops.Officers led a woman in handcuffs to a van and took away several boxes of materials from the Have A Nice Stay bookshop.Police said its National Security Department searched two shops after being alerted to books with "seditious intention" found in a shipment from overseas.Officers arrested five people under suspicion of displaying and offering for sale items with "seditious intention", police said in a statement.The offence is punishable with up to seven years in prison under Hong Kong's homegrown national security law, which was enacted in 2024 in addition to legislation imposed by Beijing after pro-democracy protests paralysed the financial hub in 2019.The police statement did not name the two shops, but AFP reporters witnessed the raid on Have A Nice Stay, and local media, citing unnamed sources, said officers had searched the Greenfield Book Store.Greenfield was closed when AFP reporters visited during opening hours.The operation came a day after Have A Nice Stay said it would close in August, citing reasons including the social environment and its financial situation."Given the economic situation across Hong Kong as a whole, we can only pessimistically conclude that it will be very difficult to keep going," the bookstore said in a statement on Tuesday.
