New | Hong Kong bookseller speaks of safety fears in meeting with police at secret location
But force says there is no evidence of a serious threat against Lam Wing-kee, who pulled out of July 1 march after claiming he was being followed
The man at the centre of the bookseller storm met police on Saturday at a secret, safe location where he went into hiding after a “serious threat” to his personal safety, according to lawmakers helping him.
But police said there was no evidence of a threat against him, after Causeway Bay Books manager Lam Wing-kee gave them a statement on being followed by strangers over the past few days – the reason he cited for pulling out of the annual July 1 protest march on Friday.
Lam was supposed to meet officers at police headquarters in Wan Chai at noon, according to Democratic Party legislator James To Kun-sun, who has been helping the bookseller. But because of security fears, To said, officers visited the bookseller at his hiding place.
Lam told them that he felt he was in danger, To said, while party colleague Albert Ho Chun-yan said he had been moved to a secure location after feeling increasingly concerned about his personal safety.
“He is doing OK now,” Ho said, explaining that the bookseller had made his own arrangements to go into hiding.
“Police will take appropriate follow-up action and investigation according to the information provided,” the force said in a statement. “There is no evidence to suggest that Mr Lam’s personal safety is at risk at this stage. Police have made appropriate suggestions to Mr Lam and reminded him to call 999 for assistance if necessary.”
The bookseller caused a stir at the protest march on Friday by announcing at the last moment that he was pulling out because of personal safety concerns.
He became the centre of attention last month when he returned from the mainland, claiming he had been nabbed by agents from a secretive, central investigative unit after crossing the border into Shenzhen last October.
He was then put through eight months of “mental torture”, he testified, before being allowed to return to Hong Kong on condition that he gave them a hard drive containing customers’ information from the bookstore.
Starting in October last year, Lam and four other associates of the Mighty Current publishing house and its Causeway Bay Books store started to go missing one after another from Hong Kong, the mainland and Thailand. Their disappearances sparked fears that they had been kidnapped by mainland agents for dealing in books banned across the border because of content criticising China’s leaders.
Police also confirmed on Saturday that To told them he may have been followed by someone on a motorbike when he was driving Lam to Wan Chai on Thursday. They said officers would look into the case.
Meanwhile, Bar Association chairwoman Winnie Tam Wan-chi hit out at mainland official Wang Guangya’s earlier accusations that Lam was “destroying” the “one country, two systems” principle by selling banned books on the mainland.
Tam asked if mainland officials and scholars were themselves harming the system guaranteeing Hong Kong’s autonomy. There should be no “double standards”, she said.
