Hong Kong’s last active pro-democracy group says it will break up because of the tightening of security
The League of Social Democrats in Hong Kong announced on Sunday that it would dissolve due to “immense political pressure” from a five-year national security crackdown, leaving the China-ruled city without an official opposition group supporting democracy.
In Hong Kong’s last two years, the LSD has become the third significant opposition party to close.
Founded in 2006 as a radical branch of the pro-democracy camp by former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, the LSD is the final group in Hong Kong to hold minor demonstrations this year.
Up to 2020, political and civil society groups frequently staged large-scale public meetings and marches in Hong Kong, but planned protests have mostly been suppressed since the threat of legal action.
Following large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019, China enforced a national security law on the former British colony in 2020, punishing offenses like subversion with sentences of up to life in prison.
The city’s pro-Beijing assembly passed a second set of regulations in 2024 that pertain to crimes including treason and sedition. These laws are called Article 23.
After weighing the safety of party members, the group was “left with no choice” and opted to shut down, according to current chair Chan Po-ying. Chan would not say what pressures they had encountered.
Accompanied by six other core members, including Tsang Kin-shing, Dickson Chau, Raphael Wong, Figo Chan, and Jimmy Sham, Chan told reporters, “We have endured hardships of internal disputes and the near total imprisonment of our leadership while witnessing the erosion of civil society, the fading of grassroots voices, the omnipresence of red lines, and the draconian suppression of dissent.”
In February, the Democratic Party, the biggest and most well-liked opposition party in the city, declared its intention to dissolve. Beijing warned them that failing to comply would have dire repercussions, including potential arrests, some senior members told Reuters.
China’s senior Hong Kong official, Xia Baolong, emphasized earlier this month that national security efforts must go on since hostile elements are still meddling in the city.
“We must clearly see that the anti-China and Hong Kong chaos elements are still ruthless and are renewing various forms of soft resistance,” Xia stated during a speech in Hong Kong.
The League of Social Democrats is a minor pro-democracy organization in Hong Kong that is well-known for its more forceful strategies and street demonstrations in support of grassroots concerns including universal pensions and universal suffrage. In 2016, Leung hurled a circular item at Leung Chun-ying, the former leader of Hong Kong, inside the legislature.
A magistrate punished three members of LSD on June 12 for erecting a street booth without legal permission, where money was collected in public and a blank black cloth was displayed. Chan informed reporters that after multiple party bank accounts were closed in 2023, the party has no money left and no assets to sell.
It never achieved the same level of popularity as the more moderate Democratic Party and Civic Party, but in a 2008 legislative election, it achieved its greatest result of three seats.
The historic ’47 Democrats’ case in 2021 saw the arrest and charging of Leung, 69, the founder of the LSD, with conspiracy to commit subversion. To date, he has been incarcerated for six years and nine months. In the same instance, Jimmy Sham was also imprisoned but later released in May.
The United States and Britain have criticized the security legislation as a means of repression, but China claims that after 332 people were jailed under them so far, calm has been restored.
“I hope that the people of Hong Kong will continue to pay attention to the vulnerable, and they will continue to speak out for injustice,” stated Figo Chan.
