In April, the 70th month since Beijing imposed the national security law, the Hong Kong government applied to the court to seize assets belonging to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

On National Education Day, a top Chinese official delivered a warning about those who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to “stir up chaos” in the city.

Gov’t seeks to seize Jimmy Lai’s assets

The Hong Kong government filed an application with the High Court on April 2 to seize “offence-related” properties owned by jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on national security grounds.

In a statement issued the same day, the government mentioned Lai’s earlier convictions under the Beijing-imposed national security law. It said the High Court had found that he was the “mastermind and driving force behind the case, consciously using Apple Daily and his personal influence” to undermine local and Beijing authorities.

In a writ dated April 2, the secretary for justice listed HK$127 million in assets to be “forfeited” to the authorities.

The assets include credit balances in bank accounts belonging to or linked to the Apple Daily founder.

Fifteen bank accounts under Lai’s name – 10 with HSBC, two with Hang Seng Bank and three with Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank – have over HK$32 million.

The government is also seeking to seize bank accounts belonging to 17 companies linked to Lai. It is also demanding that Lai give up shares in 17 companies, some of which overlap with the 17 firms whose assets the government is seeking to seize.

Among the companies whose assets and shares the government wants to seize are Dico Consultants Ltd, which has over HK$404,302 in its HSBC account, and Lai’s Hotel Properties Ltd, which has over HK$3.1 million in its four HSBC accounts.

Lai has been summoned to the High Court on July 8 to hear the government’s application. The case will be presided over by Esther Toh, one of the three judges who heard his national security trial.

The move to seize Lai’s assets came after the government designated three companies linked to Lai’s now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid “prohibited organisations” in late March and removed them from the corporate registry. Police cordoned off the Apple Daily building in Tseung Kwan O a day later.

The three firms were tried and convicted alongside the Apple Daily founder in his high-profile national security case. Lai was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in early February, while the companies were each fined over HK$3 million.

Political commentator appears in court

A Hong Kong political commentator charged with disclosing details of a national security investigation appeared at the District Court on April 28.

Wong Kwok-ngon, known by his pen name Wong On-yin, has been detained since his arrest in December for allegedly divulging in a YouTube video details of enquiries made by police during a national security investigation.

Judge Stanley Chan said the pre-trial review would take place behind closed doors on August 11, and the trial would begin on October 9.

Wong’s offence falls under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a homegrown security law known as Article 23. It was added to the ordinance in May as part of subsidiary legislation, and Wong is the first to be charged under the new law.

He is also charged with sedition over videos posted on YouTube between January 3 and December 6 last year. He plans to plead not guilty to both charges.

The defendant, who continues to represent himself, told the court he had dropped his legal aid application.

Asked by the judge whether he had legal knowledge for self-defence, Wong said he had “three law degrees” and was confident of handling the case.

Nat. security clauses for restaurant licences

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan said in early April that all Hong Kong restaurant licences would include national security clauses from September.

Tse made the remarks on April 7, nearly a year after the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) introduced the provisions for restaurant licence renewals in May.

“With restaurants renewing their licences gradually, we expect that by September this year, all restaurant licences will contain the clauses,” Tse told reporters, according to RTHK.

Retiree jailed over seditious Facebook posts

A Hong Kong man was jailed for a year under the city’s homegrown national security law after pleading guilty to making seditious remarks on Facebook, including comments supporting Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s independence.

Raymond Chong pleaded guilty before national security judge Victor So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on April 14 to one count of knowingly publishing publications with a seditious intention – an offence under the city’s local security law, also known as Article 23.

The magistrate handed Chong, a retiree in his early 60s, an 18-month sentence but discounted it by six months after considering his guilty plea.

Chong was accused of making 53 seditious social media posts between March 2024 and November 2025, local media reported.

The posts had wording such as “dissolving the Chinese Communist Party is the most important thing” and “Hong Kong independence is within sight.”

The defendant posted on a public Facebook page called “Holy Raymond,” which features the Chinese phrase “Heaven will destroy the Chinese Communist Party, God bless Hong Kong” as its profile picture.

During mitigation ahead of sentencing, his lawyer argued that Chong was a Falun Gong believer who had come to hate the Chinese Communist Party because of false information that the CCP engaged in live organ harvesting.

Beijing official warned of ‘politicising’ Tai Po fire

China’s top official in charge of Hong Kong affairs warned of some people who “politicised” the deadly Tai Po fire and tried to use the disaster to “stir up chaos” in Hong Kong.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, delivered his remarks on April 15 via a recorded video shown at a National Security Education Day ceremony.

In his speech, Xia mentioned the massive fire that broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po, on November 26, killing 168 people.

“After the Tai Po fire, some malicious people politicised the tragedy, attempting to use the disaster as a means to disrupt Hong Kong,” Xia said in Mandarin, without giving further details.

“Once again, it reminds us that along Hong Kong’s path toward prosperity under good governance, there will be various risks and challenges.”

Speaking at the same event, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee also warned that some people were “using the disaster to stir up chaos” and “to incite hatred” in Hong Kong.

“Only through the government’s swift action and decisive law enforcement has the situation been able to return to normal,” Lee said in Mandarin.

French journalist denied entry to city

A French journalist was denied entry to Hong Kong in November, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in late April, accusing the city’s authorities of “weaponising visas” against foreign media workers.

Antoine Vedeilhe, who was shooting a documentary for French public broadcaster France Télévisions, was questioned upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport on November 2 last year, RSF said in a statement on April 24.

He was detained for three hours before being deported without being given a reason, it added.

The press freedom NGO said Vedeilhe was the 13th foreign media worker who had been denied entry or a visa by the city’s authorities following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law in 2020.

“In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong,” RSF said.

Another cameraman for the documentary was able to enter the city, RSF said, but he was followed by “unidentified individuals that he suspects were Hong Kong’s national security police.”

“In the following days, there was a hacking attempt on Vedeilhe’s private email account and his sources in the documentary were harassed by the national security police,” the NGO said.

In an emailed reply to HKFP’s enquiries, the Hong Kong government said it “strongly condemns the smearing remarks and distorted narratives by” RSF.

Prosecution and arrests figures

As of April 1, a total of 394 people have been arrested for “cases involving suspected acts or activities that endanger national security” since Beijing’s national security law came into effect, according to the Security Bureau. That figure includes those arrested under Article 23 and for other offences.

Of the 208 people and five companies that have so far been charged, 180 people and four companies have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing.

In total, 100 people and four companies have been charged under Beijing’s national security law, with 79 persons and three companies convicted. Thirteen people have been charged under Article 23, 10 of whom have been convicted.

Hong Kong’s top leader has defended a management firm’s delay in holding a meeting with owners displaced by the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, saying those procedures must be carried out “in accordance with the law.”

Chief Executive John Lee said at a Tuesday press conference that Hop On Management “has always given people the impression that it is serious,” citing two briefing sessions held online last month and arrangements for maintenance fee refunds.

“My requirement is that they need to handle all matters in accordance with the law,” Lee added.

Lee replied to a reporter’s question about whether the government would take any steps regarding the Lands Tribunal’s decision to deny Hop On’s bid to extend the statutory deadline for an owners’ meeting.

After receiving a petition from Wang Fuk Court homeowners in late April, the firm originally had to call a meeting by May 13 and hold it by June 13.

The Lands Tribunal ruled last week that postponing the deadline would affect homeowners’ rights to have a meeting. Judge Gary Lam said in his ruling that Hop On remained in breach of its statutory obligations and added that it should “convene and hold the meeting as requested as soon as possible.”

Lee said that the tribunal had acknowledged difficulties faced by Hop On, from verifying the petition’s 247 signatures to putting together a complete register of owners’ particulars.

He said that some of the people killed in the fire may have been flat owners and that probate certifications would be needed to account for those cases.

“Hop On needs to make residents understand that it will handle all matters in accordance with the law,” he said, adding that the government would continue to assist the firm.

See also: Wang Fuk Court administrator to study ruling after court rejects bid to extend meeting deadline

Following the tribunal’s ruling, Hop On told HKFP last week that it “is doing its utmost to discharge its duties in accordance with the law, even in difficult times.”

“Hop On is currently conducting a thorough review of the judgment, and will continue with its work in verifying owners’ signatures and identifying a suitable venue, aiming at convening the owners’ meeting while safeguarding the rights and interests of all owners of Wang Fuk Court,” it said.

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has announced that tax revenue jumped by 22 per cent in the 2025-26 fiscal year, hitting a record high of HK$458.3 billion.

Unveiling the provisional tax figures at a press conference on Monday, Benjamin Chan, commissioner of Inland Revenue, attributed the rise partly to rallies in the property and stock markets.

Revenue from stamp duty – a tax imposed on the transfer of property or assets – reached HK$102.6 billion in 2025-26, a 61 per cent rise from the previous period.

Chan said the IRD also noticed a rise in the income of Hong Kong taxpayers and a higher number of companies paying profits tax.

In 2025-26, the tax office collected HK$212.6 billion in profits tax – a 20 per cent increase from 2024-25 – and HK$97.7 billion in salaries tax – a 10 per cent rise.

“The department’s revenue collection in 2025-26 was HK$458.3 billion, which is a record high,” Chan said.

The government previously logged HK$341.4 billion in tax revenue in 2018-19, a record high at the time, according to an IRD annual report.

The tax revenue declined afterwards – until the 2024-25 fiscal year, which recorded HK$374.5 billion, a 9.5 per cent increase from the previous period.

2.77 million tax returns issued

Chan also said on Monday that the IRD had issued about 2.77 million tax returns for individuals for the 2025-26, an increase of 115,000 from the previous year.

The commissioner also encouraged taxpayers to file their tax returns through eTAX, which is more environmentally friendly and helps ensure they reach the IRD in time. 

An extension of one month will be granted for returns filed electronically, according to the IRD.

The driver of a Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) double-decker has been arrested after the bus collided with a maintenance vehicle on Tsing Kwai Highway on Monday, injuring 22 people. The driver was among the injured.

Police said on Monday they arrested the driver, 39, on suspicion of dangerous driving after the collision left 21 bus passengers mildly injured. The driver also sustained injuries to his neck, waist, and legs.

The KMB route 960 bus was seen in dashcam footage travelling towards New Territories before appearing to ram into a stationary maintenance vehicle, which was fitted with flashing arrow signs.

The bus continued to roll forward and came to a halt only after it hit a second maintenance vehicle. A member of the maintenance team on the highway was seen running for safety moments after the first collision.

The front of the bus sustained major damage, trapping the driver in his cabin. He was later rescued and sent to hospital in a conscious state, according to the police.

KMB said the incident took place at roughly 2pm on Monday near Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park. The bus was travelling towards Tuen Mun at that time.

“The driver has been suspended from his duties and the KMB will cooperate with police investigation,” the company told HKFP.

Passengers said there were about 10 people on the lower deck at the time of the collision, which threw many off balance and onto the ground, according to local media reports.

Hong Kong police have detained a man on suspicion of indecently assaulting a teenage girl on a double-decker bus, after the incident was caught on camera and went viral online.

Police said over the weekend that the man, a 65-year-old hardware salesman surnamed Wu, was arrested on Friday night at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge boundary crossing as he attempted to re-enter the city from mainland China, following the alleged assault which took place earlier on that day.

A viral video clip on Friday afternoon showed a male bus passenger on the upper deck reaching his arm toward the armpit of a woman sitting directly in front of him.

The clip, which was filmed by a bystander from the street level, showed the woman shifting away from his arm, but the man did not withdraw. The netizen who uploaded the clip said in a comment that the incident occurred at around 12.10pm on Friday aboard a Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) Route 16 service travelling between Lam Tin and Mong Kok. The clip prompted a swift investigation by the police.

Suspect denied bail

Police Inspector Wan Ka-nam said during a media briefing on Saturday that officers contacted the victim, a Secondary Form three student, via her school, adding that the suspect was a stranger to the victim.

“At the time of the incident, the victim had just finished her classes and was taking the bus home. The victim was frightened by the incident and did not immediately report it to the police,” Wan said in Cantonese.

“The force will maintain close contact with the family of the victim and her school, so as to offer appropriate assistance to the victim,” Wan added.

Using its SmartView CCTV system, police identified the suspect, who left the city after the incident and was arrested that night at the boundary crossing, Wan said.

The suspect has been denied bail and will be brought to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to face one count of indecent assault, Wan said.

After the clip went viral on social media on Friday, KMB said it was extremely concerned and was cooperating with a police investigation, according to local media.

The bus operator urged passengers to seek immediate help from staff or call the police if they encounter similar situations.

A Hong Kong government proposal that will allow the city’s leader to certify criminal acts as national security offences is intended to “make the law clear,” Chief Executive John Lee has said.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Lee said the new subsidiary legislation for Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, commonly known as Article 23, “is purely to make the law even clearer.”

Shortly after, Lee approved the subsidiary legislation during a meeting with the Executive Council, the city’s top decision-making body.

Under the new law, which was gazetted and came into effect the same day, the chief executive will be able to certify “other offences endangering national security.”

Criminal cases classified as endangering national security will have tougher court procedures, such as a higher bar for bail and trial before designated judges.

“The purpose of introducing the subsidiary legislation is to make it clear, make it much, much clearer, how offences… endangering national security under the law of Hong Kong will be so classified,” Lee told reporters on Tuesday.

“It is not intended and will not expand the definition of the offences, and it’s not adding any new offences or any new powers or punishments. It also does not expand the scope of the application of the law,” he added.

‘Sensitive’ information

Lee said the new piece of legislation would reduce “controversy or debate in court” about what constitutes national security offences.

Asked whether he was concerned about giving an impression of further centralising power into his hands, Lee said the city’s chief executive must shoulder the “important responsibility” of safeguarding national security.

Lee said he would exercise the new power with “prudence and seriousness,” but added that, as city leader, he has access to exclusive information regarding threats to national security.

A lot of activities endangering national security “are committed by state players of another place. They are professional, sophisticated, and the series of information that may be available to indicate the seriousness of the matters [is] privy to the chief executive,” he said.

“A lot of this information is sensitive and not suitable for public disclosure,” he added.

Under the government proposal, the certificate issued by the chief executive will be binding on the city’s courts and cannot be challenged.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said the designation of national security offences involves “highly confidential” information that would not be available to the courts.

“The judiciary would not be capable of making such a decision,” Lam said.

Asked whether the chief executive’s certificates will be announced, Lam only said “people will know” as court proceedings are open to the public.

“If you see designated judges or other special arrangements in a trial, you will know” that the case has been designated as relating to national security, he said.

Wang Fuk Court fire survivors Jason Kong and his wife have been arrested for alleged government loan fraud – two weeks after he delivered a petition asking the estate’s administrator to meet with homeowners.

Sing Tao Daily reported on Friday morning that Kong and his wife were arrested on Thursday over “money laundering” and “conspiracy to defraud.”

The couple, both directors of an interior design company, are alleged to have used fraudulent means to obtain several hundred thousand dollars in loans under the government’s Special 100% Loan Guarantee scheme.

The scheme was launched by the Hong Kong government in early 2020 to help companies amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Sing Tao Daily, Kong allegedly faked the income records for January to March 2020 of his interior design company when he applied for the loan in 2022, “creating the impression that his company was affected by Covid-19.”

It is suspected that he obtained “several hundred thousand dollars,” and some funds were transferred to his personal account, the newspaper reported.

Sources familiar with the matter told HKFP that, as of Friday morning, Kong and his wife were being detained at a police station.

HKFP has not been able to reach Kong since Thursday afternoon.

In response to HKFP’s enquiry, police said on Friday afternoon that they arrested a local man and a local woman in Yuen Long on Thursday, following an investigation by the Regional Crime Unit of New Territories South.

The pair were arrested on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud, police said. The suspects, aged 62 and 64, are accused of defrauding the government’s Special 100% Loan Guarantee scheme.

Outspoken

Kong is a flat owner at the fire-ravaged Tai Po residential estate. He was also a member of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board when the fire broke out.

He and his wife survived the fire, but their dog died in the blaze.

Kong has been outspoken on matters of displacement and long-term resettlement. He has been urging the government and the government-appointed administrator, Hop On Management, to hold a meeting with homeowners.

On April 29, Kong delivered a petition, which garnered 247 handwritten signatures, to Hop On, asking the firm to hold a general meeting with homeowners to discuss long-term resettlement and related financial matters. He was one of the petition organisers.

Hop On said on Wednesday that it would seek to extend the statutory deadline for holding a homeowners’ meeting, citing the need for more time to verify owners’ signatures and find a suitable venue.

The company also said it would not communicate with “specific” residents.

“As the administrator, Hop On’s responsibility is to represent and serve all owners of Wang Fuk Court, rather than communicating only with a portion of owners or specific individuals,” the company said.

In early April, state-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported that Kong collected 500 online signatures for a petition urging Hop On to hold a general meeting with homeowners.

The report questioned the authenticity of the signatures and asked why Kong did not introduce a mechanism to verify them.

It also questioned why Kong joined the owners’ board of a residential estate in Sai Kung District. In response, Kong, who owns a property on the estate, asked why somebody should not be allowed to serve on several owners’ boards across different housing estates.

Arrests linked to gov’t loan

Since last year, there have been other arrests related to the government’s pandemic loan scheme.

In April 2025, police arrested six people, including at least one director of independent media outlet Channel C’s parent company, for allegedly defrauding the Special 100% Loan Guarantee scheme.

Channel C – founded by a small group of former Apple Daily employees in July 2021 following the closure of the pro-democracy newspaper – ceased operations soon after the arrests.

In March this year, businessman Jason Poon, who took on corruption in the construction sector, was arrested over the same government loan scheme.

He was active in highlighting issues in renovation projects at Hong Kong’s residential estates, including the quality of scaffolding nets and the bid-rigging epidemic – issues that arose in the wake of the Wang Fuk Court fire.

Following his arrest, Poon said that he would focus more on his family.

A Hong Kong couple have been arrested for child neglect after refusing to allow their baby boy, who was born without any medical record, to undergo a DNA test for birth registration.

Security minister Chris Tang told journalists on Tuesday afternoon that the couple, who said they were the parents of an infant named Danny, had been arrested in Cheung Sha Wan while the infant was sent to hospital for a health check.

Tang said the couple could not provide any medical records of the pregnancy or even a photo of the pregnancy to prove their parental relationship with the infant.

The baby had not had any medical check-ups since birth, which clearly constitutes child neglect, the security chief added.

The couple – identified by local media as Mr Tsang and Ms Kwan – caught widespread attention after they said online that the Swedish government had taken custody of their daughter, Lily, in 2023.

Saying they have not met their daughter since, the couple posted on their “Save Lily” Threads and Facebook accounts, appealing for the girl’s return to Hong Kong.

The couple said they practised “free births” and their baby boy was born in Hong Kong around two months ago.

Free birth, also called unassisted birth, involves a conscious decision to undergo pregnancy and give birth without professional maternity care or medical intervention. The trend has put the lives of mothers and babies at grave risk.

According to local media, the couple’s eldest daughter was born at home in Finland but died in infancy, and the Swedish government removed the second child, Lily, from their care due to health conditions.

In a written response to HK01, Linköping municipality in Sweden said that while it could not comment on a specific case, authorities would only apply to the court for a care order if the situation of a child was so severe that further protection was required and voluntary services were no longer sufficient to prevent harm to the child’s health or physical and mental development.

The infant Danny is yet to be registered in Hong Kong, although parents must register the birth of a newborn within 42 days of delivery. According to the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance, it is a criminal offence for anyone to deliberately fail to register the birth of a child.

Speaking on Commercial Radio on Tuesday morning, Mr Tsang said he tried to register Danny’s birth within 42 days of delivery, but he did not want to submit DNA samples to authorities to verify the relationship between the couple and Danny.

Welfare minister Chris Sun told the press on Tuesday morning that authorities were aware of the case, but social workers could not find the couple after multiple attempts to visit them.

“We had been trying to contact the parents and family through various means since last Thursday. This included social workers making daily home visits – even waiting until nearly midnight on one occasion. We also tried to locate them at different times during the morning and afternoon, and left various contact details,” Sun said in Cantonese. “However, we were unable to reach them last week.”

Sun said social workers “established contact” with the couple only on Monday and tried to arrange a meeting with them.

A Hong Kong astronaut will join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching on Sunday, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the Moon.

The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space programme, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the United States and Russia.

The Shenzhou-23 mission will blast off at 11:08 pm (1508 GMT) on Sunday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to the space station, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) spokesman Zhang Jingbo told reporters on Saturday.

The team comprises Lai Ka-ying, hailed by state media as Hong Kong’s first astronaut, Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan, the spokesman said.

Flight engineer Zhu, who participated in the Shenzhou-16 mission in 2023, will be the commander.

The mission’s primary objectives are to “continue carrying out space science and application work, conduct astronauts’ extravehicular activities and cargo transfer in and out of the cabin”, the CMSA’s Zhang told reporters.

One of the astronauts will undertake a one-year in-orbit residency experiment, he added, without specifying who.

China is “steadily” building operational experience for “sustained occupation” of its Tiangong space station, and year-long missions are an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep-space ambitions, said Macquarie University’s Richard de Grijs.

“A year in orbit pushes both hardware and humans into a different operational regime compared with the shorter Shenzhou missions of the programme’s earlier phases,” the professor of physics and astronomy told AFP.

Beijing’s space programme, the third to put humans in orbit, has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

China has ramped up plans to achieve its “space dream” under President Xi Jinping.

Beijing says it aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, with the goal of constructing a base on the lunar surface.

The CMSA said on Saturday it would “make every possible effort and strive tirelessly” to achieve that goal.

China’s top official on Hong Kong affairs will visit the city this week to check its alignment with the National 15th Five-Year Plan and the progress of a tech hub development in the New Territories.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, will be in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday to inspect the five-year blueprint and the Northern Metropolis, the Hong Kong government said on Monday.

Xia is set to arrive one day after Hong Kong launched a two-month public consultation for the city’s first five-year plan.

During the public consultation period, residents can submit their views via a dedicated website, email or post, Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday. The government will also host activities to hear different views from lawmakers, industry leaders, and members of the public.

Lee said that the Hong Kong plan, led by the chief executive himself, would focus on the economy, technological development, and livelihood issues, as well as Hong Kong’s integration into China’s development.

In February, ahead of the high-profile “Two Sessions” meeting in Beijing, Lee announced that Hong Kong would launch its first five-year plan.

The Northern Metropolis is a large-scale project set to transform 30,000 hectares of land in Hong Kong’s rural areas near the border with mainland China into a tech hub, providing more homes and deepening the city’s integration with Shenzhen.

Swathes of land, including rural villages in the New Territories, will make way for the development.

Xia visited Hong Kong in June last year to attend a forum marking the fifth anniversary of the national security law.

Later in April, he delivered a recorded video speech at a National Security Education Day ceremony, warning of people who “politicised” the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire and tried to use the disaster to “stir up chaos” in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police have launched a two-week campaign to clamp down on jaywalking and inattentive driving following a surge in fatal traffic accidents over the first five months of this year.

Police said on Friday that two law enforcement operations, codenamed “Clearview” and “Autobinder,” would run until June 19, targeting careless driving and reckless road crossing.

“As of May 31 this year, the number of deaths from traffic accidents in Hong Kong reached 51, up 42 per cent from the same period last year,” police said in a Chinese-language media briefing. “Pedestrian deaths accounted for half of the total.”

See also: Hong Kong taxi driver in court over Ngau Tau Kok crash that killed 2

Police said an analysis showed that the primary causes of the high death toll were jaywalking and careless driving, with commercial vehicles identified as the most frequent vehicle type involved in fatal incidents.

During the operations, the police force will strengthen patrols using unmarked police vehicles, conducting strict enforcement against speeding, tailgating, using mobile phones while driving, and other forms of careless driving.

Police urged professional drivers to stay focused behind the wheel and adhere to traffic rules, and called on pedestrians to avoid jaywalking, weaving through traffic or ignoring traffic signals.

Pedestrians should utilise designated pedestrian crossings, subways and footbridges, police added.

The maximum penalty for careless driving in Hong Kong is a HK$5,000 fine and six months’ imprisonment. Jaywalking carries a fine of up to HK$2,000.

Two out of three journalists say the working environment in Hong Kong has changed “for the worse” in the past year, according to the latest survey by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

The 2026 FCC Press Freedom Survey, which received 78 responses from members, found that “67 per cent of respondents said the working environment for them as a journalist had changed for the worse in the last 12 months.”

The FCC pointed out that the survey “happened to take place” after Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was convicted and sentenced to jail, as well as Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong, the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), summoned representatives of several major foreign media outlets, shortly following the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire.

At the meeting, the OSNS warned that some media organisations had spread false information and smeared the government in reports on the massive blaze at the housing estate in Tai Po, which killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.

‘Watershed moment’

One respondent said that the warning by the OSNS to foreign journalists “should be seen as a watershed moment here in Hong Kong. It has created an increased chilling effect.”

About a quarter of respondents said they experienced minor or significant interference in their work, with most describing incidents while covering the Tai Po fire. One journalist said they were told to leave when they were “speaking to survivors in a corner, disturbing no one.”

Another respondent said that the 20-year sentence handed down to Lai “only further chills the local reporting environment.”

More than 50 per cent said sources had become less willing to be quoted during the same period, the survey found.

One respondent was quoted as saying that “the scope of what is ‘acceptable’ in terms of who can be quoted” has narrowed each year.

“It has reached the point where non-political voices who question policy-making or have reservations about certain aspects of it will get cut or reduced significantly by editors,” the respondent added.

See also: Hong Kong press freedom rebounds slightly from historic low, reflecting ‘resilience,’ journalists’ union says

Fewer respondents had a clear sense of what subjects are sensitive in the most recent survey, down from 78 per cent last year to 65 per cent this year, with one respondent saying the Beijing-imposed national security law “is still rather fluid and capricious.”

Half of the respondents said they were “slightly concerned” about arrest or prosecution in relation to their work as journalists, while 41 said they were not. The remaining 9 per cent said they were very concerned.

A third of respondents said their organisations had downsized in Hong Kong. Among them, a third cited the political and legal environment as well as corporate cost-cutting.

But 17 per cent of respondents said their organisations had increased staff in the city, with 40 per cent of them citing “the growing importance of Hong Kong” and increased investment.

“Press freedom remains engrained in Hong Kong law, but as is apparent from the results of our survey, the sentiment for working journalists in the city has been in flux,” said FCC President Morgan Davis.

“The FCC supports journalists’ fundamental right to conduct their work freely and without fear of intimidation or harassment,” the club said in its statement.

“We will continue to safeguard press freedom in the city, via engagement with the journalism community and relevant stakeholders, in order to make sure that Hong Kong remains an international hub for media, business and finance.”