Hong Kong police raided the Have A Nice Stay bookstore in Mong Kok on Wednesday. The shop, run by former journalists, had five people detained and boxes of books and editorial materials seized, part of a new crackdown on independent bookstores accused of selling publications deemed seditious under the local national security law.
The operation began in the morning when uniformed officers entered the premises, handcuffed a woman and placed her in a police van. At the same time, officers inspected the Greenfield bookstore, which was closed when journalists arrived, while police confiscated materials and searched the locations for publications identified as problematic.
The raid, covering two shops in densely populated areas, was one of a series of actions against independent bookstores during 2026. In both stores, officers concentrated on identifying and seizing books that, according to official interpretation, incited hatred against the government, the judiciary or the police.
Police said the five detainees—two men and three women aged between 30 and 59—were under investigation for alleged sedition. Under the national security law introduced in 2024, possession, sale or display of materials considered subversive can carry up to seven years in prison.
The raid came a day after Have A Nice Stay told customers it would close in August, citing economic difficulties and an increasingly unclear “red line” over what may be sold in Hong Kong.
In a farewell message, the bookstore’s operators said that economic pressure combined with legal restrictions made continuing the project unviable. Since opening in 2022, the shop specialized in titles on democratic development, media literacy, contemporary history and authoritarianism, and in distributing independent publications produced by local journalists.
Neither bookstore participated this year in the Hong Kong Book Fair, one of the region’s leading literary events, which opened the same Wednesday under strict restrictions on permitted titles.
The national security law has altered the character of the fair by limiting the presence of critical or political materials. Organizers and exhibitors adjusted their catalogs to avoid sanctions, in a context where unclear legal boundaries have driven self-censorship and the removal of books from display.
During 2026, Hong Kong police stepped up operations against independent bookstores. In March, four employees of Book Punch were arrested for selling books that included a biography of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned for more than a year.
In June, two more workers from the Hunter shop were detained on similar charges. These cases have reinforced a pattern in which booksellers and publishers face the threat of police investigations, arrests and business closures because of the content of their catalogs.
Authors and booksellers in the publishing sector have expressed concern about the growing uncertainty created by enforcement of the law. Ambiguity over the criteria used to define seditious titles has forced shops to review and reduce their offerings, making it harder for independent projects that promote ideas and public debate to survive. Pressure on spaces like Have A Nice Stay—founded after the 2019 protests as refuges for civil society and intellectual exchange—highlights the narrowing space for critical thought in the city.
(With information from AFP)