Activist groups have also been decimated. The Civil Human Rights Front, which had organized large marches, closed in August after Beijing’s office in Hong Kong accused it of opposing China and the police opened an investigation into its funding. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized an annual vigil to mourn those killed in the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement, disbanded after the authorities began looking into its funding and accused most of its leadership of national security offenses, including subversion. The authorities removed displays from the group’s museum and blocked access in Hong Kong to the group’s website.
“The past 32 years, with the Hong Kong Alliance keeping those memories alive, signaled that Hong Kong was different from mainland China,” Richard Tsoi, the only officer of the group not in custody, said of the vigils. “But things have changed significantly.”
Many groups continue to operate, but some fear that the crackdown could spread.
“We are not interested at all in politics,” said Brian Wong, a member of Liber Research Community, an independent research institute that focuses on land use. “But from what we can see on the mainland, eventually all of civil society can be seen as a threat.”
The Hong Kong Journalists Association’s relative distance from politics may have also insulated it thus far. Mr. Chan, the union’s head, says its leadership has been hardened years of covering crackdowns and street protests.
They have little illusions about the difficulties that they will face, but want to continue on because of the needs of their colleagues, including hundreds of recently unemployed Apple Daily journalists, he added. The aggressive pro-democracy newspaper was forced to close in June after its accounts were frozen and several top editors and executives arrested.
“I told them even if I’m arrested, please don’t disband,” he said. “And if the pressure is too great, then put it to the members.”