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Hong Kong national security law (NSL)
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Hong Kong security forces march past a banner supporting the national security law. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong’s national security law hotline draws 100,000 tips in just six months, police say

  • An average 550 messages a day logged with platform, according to special department tasked with enforcing Beijing-imposed law in the city
  • Last week, the unit arrested five people over allegedly subversive messages posted on social media by a student group
Hong Kong’s national security police have been getting an average of 550 messages a day over possible violations of the Beijing-imposed legislation since their reporting hotline launched in November.

Over the past six months, more than 100,000 messages had been lodged with the intelligence-gathering platform, police said on Monday.

“Thank you for making the reports to the hotline and contributing to safeguarding national security,” a message on the force’s official Facebook page read.

The hotline, which went into operation on November 5, allows the public to send information, photos, and audio and video clips via SMS or WeChat or to a designated email address.

Hong Kong national security police raid a children’s clothing chain last week where a graffiti-style display appeared to evoke a banned protest slogan. Photo: Reuters

According to police, the hotline is not answered nor are replies made, and personal details are not collected or disclosed to third parties.

On June 30 last year, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong banning acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

So far, the city’s national security police have arrested more than 100 people and prosecuted 57 of them.

National security police arrest five for alleged acts of subversion on social media

In the national security department’s latest operation, five members of a local student group known as “Returning Valiant”, were rounded up last Wednesday and Thursday in connection with social media comments that allegedly constituted acts of subversion.

Four of the suspects – three males and one female – were secondary school students, while the fifth was an unemployed adult man. The suspects, aged 15 to 24, were released on bail, pending further investigation.

In a separate operation on Thursday, officers from the unit also searched a newly opened outlet of the children’s clothing chain Chickeeduck in Tsuen Wan, where a graffiti-style display over the entrance appeared to evoke a banned protest slogan. The shop also displayed a statue honouring anti-government protesters.

National security police search Chickeeduck over display evoking banned slogan

A police source told the Post last week that officers had carried out the raid on the shop because the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times” could be made out in the jumbled, graffiti-like writing over the outlet’s front door.

The slogan, a common refrain during 2019’s anti-government protests, has since been declared a violation of the national security law.

Officers left two hours later without making any seizures or arrests.

The brand’s founder, Herbert Chow Siu-lung characterised the operation as an effort to spread “white terror”, adding he was “not scared”.

Even though no arrests were made, the source said the raid served as a “warning”.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Hotline flooded with reports of possible violations
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