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.”

A 67-year-old man has been handed a two-month jail term, suspended for 24 months, after he pleaded guilty to resharing a social media post urging a boycott of the 2025 “patriots only” legislative elections.

According to a press release from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Lam Kin-sik admitted on Monday to inciting another person not to vote, in violation of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance.

Whilst it is legal to cast a blank ballot or boycott an election in Hong Kong, it is unlawful to encourage another person to do so during an election period.

Magistrate Shirley Cornelia Hung said a custodial sentence was inevitable as it was a serious offence, but it was suspended considering Lam’s guilty plea and mitigating factors such as his health condition.

Lam was among three people prosecuted by the ICAC in November after they shared social media posts by two overseas activists – Alan Keung and Tong Wai-hung – who called for a boycott of what they described as a “fake election.”

In the Monday statement, the anti-corruption watchdog said that the defendant shared a post published by Tong.

“A warrant for Tong’s arrest, who has since left Hong Kong, was earlier issued by a Magistrate upon the ICAC’s application,” the ICAC said.

See also: Hong Kong woman given suspended jail term for reposting calls to boycott legislative polls

Those found guilty of inciting another person not to vote, or to cast an invalid ballot, face up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$200,000.

In March 2021, Beijing passed legislation to ensure “patriots” govern Hong Kong. The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced a pro-Beijing vetting panel to select candidates. Authorities say the overhaul ensures the city’s stability and prosperity. But the changes also prompted international condemnation, as much of the traditional opposition remains behind bars, in self-exile or has quit politics.

A US jury convicted a man on Wednesday for his role in running a clandestine Chinese “police station” in New York as part of a campaign to monitor US-based dissidents.

“Harry” Lu Jianwang, 64, faces up to 30 years in prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government in setting up and running the “overseas police station” in Manhattan’s Chinatown, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Lu and another man, Chen Jinping, were arrested in April 2023 and accused of operating the secret police station, which operated from an office building, on behalf of China’s Ministry of Public Security.

Canada and several European governments have cracked down on similar “police stations,” whose existence was first revealed by Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders.

They often operate with little or no indication they are there, though US officials said the Manhattan office had been visited by officials from the Chinese consulate in New York.

According to Safeguard Defenders, the stations have been involved in pressuring nationals to return home to face criminal charges.

“Lu Jianwang used a police station in New York City to target PRC (People’s Republic of China) dissidents in furtherance of the Chinese government’s political agenda,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr.

FBI agents first searched the outpost in October 2022 and found a blue banner reading “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station, New York, USA,” referring to a city in southeastern China.

“The New York police station was part of a global initiative by the MPS (Ministry of Public Security) to establish overseas police service stations all over the world,” the Justice Department said.

“Lu was tasked by his MPS handler with collecting information on behalf of the Chinese government, such as locating a pro-democracy advocate who had fled from China and moved to the US,” it added.

Beijing said in December last year that there was no “so-called police station.”

“China is a country governed by the rule of law and has always strictly abided by international law and respected all countries’ judicial sovereignty,” said foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian when asked about the case at a regular news conference.

Lu’s co-defendant Chen Jinping is awaiting sentencing.

Hong Kong Customs seized around 31 kilograms of suspected cannabis buds in Tuen Mun on Tuesday and arrested a 33-year-old man.

The value of the suspected cannabis was estimated to be around HK$6 million, according to a government press release on Wednesday.

During Tuesday’s anti-narcotics operation, officers stopped a suspicious man and found he was carrying 20.5 kilogrammes of suspected cannabis buds in two canvas bags.

“Customs officers then escorted the man to an industrial unit in Tuen Mun for a search and found about 10.5kg of suspected cannabis buds and a batch of drug packaging paraphernalia in the unit,” the press release said.

The suspect was charged with two counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug and will appear at the Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday.

Those found to have trafficked a dangerous drug face a maximum penalty of HK$5 million and life imprisonment.

The landmark trial of Tiananmen vigil activists neared its conclusion in May, with both defendants and prosecutors delivering their closing submissions.

The government allocated more money to the national security fund and lashed out at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after the NGO once again placed Hong Kong low on its annual press freedom index.

Trial of Tiananmen vigil activists

The national security trial of Tiananmen vigil activists Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan heard closing arguments from the defendants and the prosecution. Lee and Chow were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

Lee’s defence lawyer, Erik Shum, spoke before a three-judge panel on May 18, urging the court not to merely “pay lip service” to human rights protections.

He argued that calls to “end one-party rule” in China should be considered legitimate political expression.

Lee, Chow, and the Alliance are facing a charge of “inciting subversion,” an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law, over the group’s calls to end one-party rule in China during decades of candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.

The Alliance had never proposed an “action plan” to mobilise supporters to topple the CCP, the lawyer said. “In the past 30 years, there has been no evidence showing that any person acted under the Alliance’s specific instruction,” Shum said in Cantonese.

In his closing submission, prosecutor Ned Lai argued the Alliance’s calls had exceeded the legitimate boundary of freedom of expression as the defendants intended to stoke hatred against Beijing.

“We say that their behaviour had crossed the line,” he said in Cantonese. “Freedom is not absolute.”

Chow, a barrister who represents herself in the trial, delivered her closing arguments on May 19.

She urged the court to safeguard the “dignity and bottom line of the law” and warned the judges not to become “accomplices” in an alleged government crackdown on free speech.

Chow said the crux of the case was whether the law protects the “perpetual rule” of the CCP or the rights of people to advocate democracy.

“Ending one-party rule means putting an end to the status quo, in which those in power are not bound by the law,” she said in Cantonese.

Senior counsel Priscilia Lam, representing the Alliance, argued the prosecution had not been able to present evidence of the group’s alleged incitement to subversion.

“What did the Alliance do to incite people to subvert state power?” Lam said in Cantonese. “I have heard nothing on this after sitting here for so long.”

The Alliance disbanded in 2021 after authorities banned the vigil for two years, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and arrested its leadership on national security allegations. Chow and Lee have been behind bars since September 2021.

Another defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January.

The three-judge panel said they hope to deliver a verdict in “mid or late July.”

Gov’t reacts to UK trial conviction

The Hong Kong government denied any link to a high-profile UK court case after its trade officer was convicted of spying on overseas activists.

“From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are we party to the case,” a government statement sent to the media on May 8.

The statement was issued a day after Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai were found guilty under Britain’s national security laws of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

Yuen and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.

Among those the pair were said to have surveilled was Nathan Law, who is wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police with a bounty of HK$1,000,000.

Wanted activist arrested in Thailand

Hong Kong authorities declined to comment on reports that an activist wanted by the city’s national security police could face deportation to China after being arrested in Thailand for allegedly overstaying her visa.

Responding to media queries about concerns that wanted activist Zhang Xinyan could be transferred to China, the Security Bureau said on May 11 that it would not comment on news reports about law enforcement actions in other jurisdictions.

“Endangering national security is an extremely serious crime… no fugitive should harbour the illusion that they can evade criminal liability by fleeing Hong Kong,” the bureau said in a statement.

Zhang, 54, is wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police for allegedly committing subversion, a crime under Article 23 – also known as the city’s homegrown national security law.

She is among a group of 19 activists named in a round of arrest warrants issued in July 2025, with bounties between HK$200,000 and HK$1 million.

From February to June 2025, they were allegedly involved in the “Hong Kong Parliament,” a group of overseas activists who held unofficial polls outside the city to form a shadow legislature to “pursue the ideal of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong.”

According to Human Rights Watch, Zhang holds refugee status issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

New allocation for national security fund

The Hong Kong government allocated an additional HK$5 billion to a national security special fund.

The government unveiled the funding on May 15, when it gazetted the government accounts for the fiscal year 2025-26.

It was the third allocation for national security since Beijing imposed the national security law in Hong Kong in June 2020.

The special fund was established the same year. It received an initial allocation of HK$8 billion in December 2020 and an additional HK$5 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

The latest allocation thus brought the total amount to HK$18 billion.

In response to Ming Pao’s enquiry, the Financial Secretary’s Office said authorities will not disclose details of the funding, citing Article 14 of the national security law. It did not respond to whether the previous HK$13 billion funding had been depleted.

Worsening press freedom, FCC survey finds

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, released on May 11.

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.

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.”

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

Gov’t reacts to RSF press freedom index

The Hong Kong government and the Legislative Council (LegCo) condemned Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May after the city was ranked low in the NGO’s annual press freedom index.

They also hit out after German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) awarded Lai, the jailed media tycoon, a press freedom prize on April 30.

In RSF’s 2026 global press freedom index, released on April 30, Hong Kong was ranked 140th out of 180 countries and territories – the same position as last year. The press freedom NGO highlighted the 20-year sentence handed down to Lai, who was convicted last year under the security law.

In response, the Hong Kong government issued a press release on May 1. It said that it “strongly condemned the attempts by an anti-China organisation and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of national security offender [Jimmy] Lai Chee-ying and to slander, smear, as well as attack the HKSAR by releasing a so-called press freedom index and presenting a so-called ‘award’. Such despicable behaviours totally disregarded the rule of law and twisted the facts, which must be strongly condemned.”

In a separate statement on the same day, the LegCo Secretariat said it “strongly condemned the release of a so-called press freedom index by a foreign media organisation and presentation of a so-called award to the national security offender Lai Chee-ying to sugarcoat his criminal acts, and smear the press freedom and rule of law” in Hong Kong.

RSF’s Aleksandra Bielakowska – who was denied entry to the city in 2024 – responded to the Hong Kong authorities.

“To make it clear once again: defending journalism is not ‘anti-China’; it is pro–press freedom,” she said on May 2. “At RSF, we stand arm in arm with Hong Kong journalists. We will not be intimidated and we continue supporting all media in Hong Kong, with the hope that one day we will see positive change and that the city will return to its golden years as an exemplar and beacon of press freedom.”

3 charged over alleged weapons training

Three people were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion after they were arrested by national security police over alleged illegal weapons training last year.

Students Wong Kit-lun, 20, and Tang Ngai-pok, 23, as well as waiter Chan Hiu-chun, 23, appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on May 15.

The trio stood in the dock beside Gallian Pang and Lee Chun-sum, who were also charged with conspiring to subvert state power – an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law – on December 15.

The five men are among a group of 10 people – nine men and one woman – arrested on December 11 and 12 for alleged “unlawful drilling” – an offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, the homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23. The arrests marked the first time authorities had invoked the unlawful drilling offence.

Last month, the prosecution accused Wong, Tang and Chan of conspiring with Pang, Lee and “other persons unknown between November 1, 2024, and December 11, 2025, to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts to subvert the state power.”

Wong faced an additional charge of possession of child pornography, an offence under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance.

The prosecution also charged Lee with allegedly possessing explosives and radio communications apparatus without a licence.

Prosecution and arrests figures

As of May 1, a total of 399 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, 181 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, 11 of whom have been convicted.

A Hong Kong court has ordered the forfeiture of more than HK$670,000 in “terrorist property” from three persons involved in a thwarted bomb plot during the 2019 protests.

In a written judgment on Thursday, High Court Judge Judianna Barnes ruled that Wong Chun-keung and Ng Chi-hung were “terrorists” and Lau Pui-ying was a “terrorist associate” under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.

Barnes said a total sum of HK$674,860 in the defendants’ accounts and in cash, which was liable to be seized under the ordinance, was “intended to be used to finance or otherwise assist the commission of ‘terrorist acts.’”

In November 2024, Ng was sentenced to almost 24 years in jail for masterminding the foiled bomb plot, which aimed to kill police officers at a demonstration on December 8, 2019, amid the large-scale protests and unrest that year.

Wong, who led a radical group known as “Dragon Slayers,” was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison. Both defendants pleaded guilty, with Wong testifying for the prosecution in exchange for leniency in sentencing.

Lau was among seven defendants who stood trial by jury. In August 2024, the nine-member jury found her and five others not guilty. Only one defendant was convicted by the jury and was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months behind bars.

Despite her acquittal, authorities submitted “numerous Telegram messages” that showed Lau “actively administered, together with [Wong], crowd-funding exercise in securing funds” for Dragon Slayers and the bomb plot, according to the judgment on Thursday.

Between November 6 and December 9, 2019, Lau’s three accounts received net deposits of more than HK$1 million while she was earning a salary of less than HK$3,000, the government submitted.

Barnes said the evidence “overwhelmingly supported” the government’s application to forfeit the sum.

Roughly HK$536,000 was kept in Lau’s three accounts, according to the judgment, while the remainder, around HK$138,000, consisted of deposits in Wong and Ng’s bank accounts, as well as cash.

Wong and Ng did not oppose the application while Lau was absent throughout the proceedings, including court notices and a hearing regarding the government’s application.

The anti-terrorism ordinance, enacted in 2002, was invoked for the first time to prosecute the group.

The defendants were accused of planning a bomb attack during a rally marking International Human Rights Day, plotting to place two bombs along the rally’s marching route to kill police officers.

A former senior police inspector has been jailed for 30 months over misconduct in public office and accepting HK$1.4 million in bribes in exchange for leaking case details and dropping an investigation into a suspect.

During sentencing on Tuesday, Deputy District Judge Terence Wai reprimanded former chief inspector of police Ho Siu-tung, 40, “for undermining public confidence in the Police, eroding Hong Kong’s proud reputation for integrity, and striking at the foundation of the city’s rule of law,” the city’s anti-graft watchdog said in a statement issued the same day.

“The judge also ordered the defendant to make restitution of over $1.14 million to the Government, equivalent to the total sum of bribes involved in the present case, within 42 months after serving his jail term,” the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) added.

Last week, Ho pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in public office and two counts of accepting an advantage as a public servant.

According to the ICAC, the defendant, who was posted to Wan Chai District, was responsible for overseeing criminal investigations conducted by the District Anti-Triad Squad and the District Crime Squad.

In June 2021, he became acquainted with a merchant who reported a deception case. The merchant was also involved in an assault case, which was investigated by the Anti-Triad Squad under Ho’s supervision.

In August 2021, Ho recommended to his supervisor, a police superintendent, that the merchant be excluded from prosecution in the assault case and attempted to terminate the investigation. The defendant also ignored two enquiries from his superior as to whether further inquiries were needed.

Instead, Ho ordered his own subordinate to release the merchant, despite his being identified as the assailant by the victim in the assault case.

‘Favourably disposed’

The ICAC’s investigation revealed that over one and a half years, Ho accepted two HK$500,000 cash payments from the merchant, as well as gifts worth over HK$140,000, such as Burberry and Ralph Lauren children’s clothing, a Chanel handbag, a red packet for his son and wife, and the payment of medical bills for his mother.

Between September 2021 and October 2022, Ho told the merchant information from the police investigation, including personal data of suspects and individuals involved in two cases, police interview summaries, and bail statuses.

The two cases were the deception case reported by the merchant and a case of false instruments involving a friend of the merchant.

Ho was “favourably disposed to the merchant and his friend” during relevant investigations, “including abusing his authority to extend the Police bail of the suspect in the deception case, and abusing his authority at the merchant’s request to prolong or curtail the relevant investigative work in the use of false instruments case without justification,” the ICAC said in the statement.

In mitigation, the defence said that Ho faced mental and financial pressure from family issues and “fell into the abyss of selling his soul.” Considering Ho’s guilty plea and mitigation, Judge Wai handed down a 30-month prison sentence, down from a starting point of four years.

A woman has denied charges of offering bribes to Hong Kong immigration officers over a permanent residency application and obstructing anti-graft officers in the execution of their duties.

Wang Subing, an unemployed 36-year-old, appeared at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, Ming Pao reported.

She was charged with one count of offering an advantage to a public servant and one count of resisting or obstructing officers in the execution of their duties.

The case was adjourned to July 20 for a pre-trial review, and the defendant was released on HK$20,000 bail.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) charged Wang on April 1, the anti-graft watchdog said last month.

According to the ICAC, she lived in Hong Kong on a student visa between mid-2018 and early 2020.

“She later entered Hong Kong as a visitor and had a record of overstaying. The offences took place in 2025,” it said. “At the material time, the defendant was applying for the issuance of a permanent identity card of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”

The Immigration Department rejected her application because Wang did not meet the requirement of seven years’ ordinary residence in Hong Kong.

Then, on September 17, Wang handed over a letter to immigration officers with banknotes of HK$1,100 and RMB100 – although applications for permanent residency are free of charge.

The ICAC investigated the case after the Immigration Department made a report to the watchdog.

Wang is also accused of resisting or obstructing ICAC officers on October 8, when they tried to take her from the Immigration Headquarters in Tseung Kwan O to the ICAC office.

Offering an advantage to a public servant in Hong Kong is an offence under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance. Upon conviction, the maximum penalty is seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$500,000.

Meta has removed a series of scam ads impersonating the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) following HKFP’s enquiries.

The ads, targeting Hongkongers, appeared for weeks on Facebook. They urged users to get in touch with the global policing body if they wished to retrieve funds previously lost to scams – however, the ads were fraudulent.

The posts were published by a since-removed fake news outlet page called “Hong Kong Daily,” which falsely claimed to share an office address with HKFP.

INTERPOL told HKFP that such ads should be reported to the local police. “To confirm that INTERPOL never contacts members of the public directly, never demands money from people and never asks for bank details or any money transfer,” it said on Thursday. “Any such request or advert is fake. Members of the public should not engage and report any such emails or adverts to the local police.”

In response to HKFP on Friday, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Police Force said they have been “actively engaging relevant authorities to verify and remove suspicious or fraudulent websites. In the process of removing such websites, cooperation with concerned parties, including various service providers, is essential. The Hong Kong Police Force is committed to safeguarding the interests of the public by working with these service providers to suppress fraudulent messages.”

The police force is part of the INTERPOL Member State of China.

Meta’s US$3.5 bn profits from scams – report

Last year, Meta banned over 3.7 million items of ad content in Hong Kong and 134 million instances globally. Also in 2025, the tech giant took down 10.9 million accounts associated with scam centres. The company owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

A spokesperson for Meta told HKFP on Friday that ads which impersonate organisations or seek to defraud people go against its policies.

“The flagged Facebook Page and associated ads have been removed for violating our policies,” the spokesperson said. “Fighting scams on our platforms is one of our top priorities and as scammers have grown in sophistication in recent years, so have our efforts. We use AI-powered detection technology to identify and remove scam ads at scale, and we also encourage anyone who encounters suspicious ads to report them through our in-app tools.”

Nevertheless, according to a report by Reuters news agency, Meta earns US$3.5 billion (HK$27.4 billion) from just a portion of scam ads every six months.

Citing internal Meta documents, Reuters said that the social media company projected that 10 per cent of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, amounting to US$16 billion (HK$124.8 billion).

Other fraudulent ads, appearing to target scam victims, remained online as of Monday, according to HKFP’s checks.

One ad targeting Hongkongers, published by a page called “Law Help,” urged those “affected by online fraud or an unregulated broker” to submit their details.

Scammers have been posing as law enforcement officers to defraud victims.

In March, Nikkei Asia reported that mock police stations and banks had been set up at scam centres, used to fool victims interacting via video call.

The Tiananmen crackdown museum in Los Angeles was broken into and vandalised over the weekend, according to its co-founder Wang Dan.

“This morning, volunteers at the June Fourth Memorial Museum discovered upon arriving at work that the museum’s main gate had been vandalized and graffitied. We have already reported it to the police,” said Wang on Twitter on Sunday.

Wang was among the student leaders during the 1989 movement.

The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.

“The perpetrator infiltrated the memorial hall and destroyed the surveillance cameras before beginning the acts of vandalism,” Wang said, adding that commemorative events would go ahead this week regardless.

Footage posted by the museum’s Twitter account appears to show historic items and information boards damaged with spray paint.

In a later tweet, Wang said that the CCTV system had been repaired, with footage handed over to the authorities. “The June Fourth Memorial Hall will never cease operations due to such acts of destruction and threats,” he said.

Museums attacked, shuttered

The June Fourth Memorial Museum in Los Angeles was opened last June by Chinese dissidents and survivors.

In April 2019, vandals struck Hong Kong’s June 4 museum.

A year after the 2020 security law was imposed in Hong Kong, a revamped museum shut down just three days after opening, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department saying it lacked an entertainment licence.

An online museum remains largely inaccessible in Hong Kong.

For the fourth year in a row, Hong Kong’s Victoria Park – historically the site of annual candlelight vigils to remember the victims of the crackdown – will host a patriotic food carnival on June 4.

Hong Kong’s anti-graft watchdog has arrested seven people for alleged corruption in building maintenance projects, including the owner of a contractor firm who concealed his control over a company tasked with overseeing tendering.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a statement on Tuesday that it arrested five men and two women, aged from 37 to 75, who were part of a corruption syndicate in the building maintenance industry.

Among them were the chairman of an owners’ board, the proprietor of a maintenance contractor, the directors of a consultancy firm, and a registered inspector.

After investigating a report alleging corruption in the tender exercise for maintenance work at a building in Mong Kok, the ICAC found that the project contractor’s proprietor “allegedly controlled the project consultancy firm through his associates.”

‘Dual role’

According to the ICAC, the proprietor “secured the consultancy contract for the grand maintenance project at a low price, and concealed his dual roles as project contractor and consultant, along with his conflicting interests during the tendering process,” with the intention to induce the owners’ board “to select his company as the project contractor.”

The contractor eventually failed to secure the HK$20 million contract after property owners suspected irregularities in the tender exercise.

The ICAC also suspected the owners’ board chairman of bribery and alleged that the registered inspector, who maintained a full-time job in the finance industry, might not have carried out her duties in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance when signing inspection reports.

The consultancy firm and the contractor also concealed their affiliation in two other maintenance projects currently undergoing tender exercises – one in Tai Hang and another in Sham Shui Po – with contracts worth about HK$6 million.

The watchdog raided the offices of the consultancy firm and the contractor, as well as the suspects’ homes, seizing documents and accounting records related to the maintenance projects.

“The ICAC successfully intercepted these illicit activities and reminded property owners of potential corruption risks during contract awards,” it said.

“As the relevant corruption investigation is ongoing, the ICAC does not rule out further enforcement actions.”

The latest arrests come after the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court brought to light bid-rigging and other illicit practices in the industry.

The watchdog appears to have ramped up anti-corruption arrests in maintenance projects in the months since the fire broke out.

The government-subsidised housing estate in Tai Po was undergoing large-scale maintenance work under a mandatory government order when the blaze broke out in November. The inferno – the biggest in Hong Kong in nearly eight decades – killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.

Activists have shown up in Causeway Bay, defying a heavy police deployment at and around the former site of Hong Kong’s commemorative Tiananmen crackdown vigils.

Large numbers of uniformed and plainclothes officers were seen in Victoria Park – where the Tiananmen vigils were held for decades – and around Causeway Bay on Thursday, the 37th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown.

A “Sabertooth” police armoured vehicle was spotted in the afternoon near Times Square, as officers set up a roadblock at the intersection of East Point Road and Great George Road.

Exits from Causeway Bay MTR Station were also guarded by officers.

Explainer: What to know about Hong Kong’s past Tiananmen commemorations and nat. security trial of vigil leaders

The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.

At around 5pm, activist Lui Yuk-lin walked from Great George Street in Causeway Bay towards Victoria Park. She pressed her hands, wrapped in a black cloth, in a prayer gesture, while chanting the Great Compassion Mantra.

Bowing every few steps, Lui walked through the park towards Tin Hau and returned to Causeway Bay. The activist said she bowed 37 times in the 40-minute walk.

Some police officers followed the activist and occasionally held a cordon around her as she walked and chanted.

Lui told reporters that she would be leaving Causeway Bay at 8pm to comply with a police warning. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” she said, before police officers swarmed her and escorted her to the MTR station.

Another woman was seen gesturing “six” and “four” with her hands at around 6pm on Great George Street in Causeway Bay, The Collective reported. Police officers at the scene warned her that her behaviour could be “seditious”. They pressed her hands down and took her away in a police vehicle.

At around 6.30pm, Chan Po-ying, chairperson of the now-defunct League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party, appeared in Causeway Bay with a yellow paper flower.

Police at the scene warned Chan that her behaviour might constitute “disorder in public places” and told her to put the flower in her bag.

Officers then took her away in a police vehicle.

A man was surrounded by police officers on Paterson Street after being spotted holding a candle at around 7pm.

While being searched, he asked whether he was being arrested and said that he did not have to comply with their orders if he was not under arrest. “I know my rights,” he said.

After he asked again whether he was under arrest, an officer said, “Disorderly conduct,” and they escorted him into a police van.

A young man in a black T-shirt was intercepted by police after he put on a blindfold and used a red marker pen to write on his arm outside the Sogo department store at around 7.15pm.

Despite being surrounded by police, he continued the act until he was ordered to stop. Moments later, he was taken into a police vehicle.

Before he got into the van, he pulled out a small red book that appeared to be China’s constitution.

The same man was spotted in Causeway Bay on the past two Tiananmen crackdown anniversaries and was taken away by police on both occasions.

In 2025, he appeared at Victoria Park, wearing a T-shirt saying, “Core Values of Socialism.” In 2024, he showed up at the patriotic food carnival wearing a T-shirt bearing the iconic picture of revolutionary leader Che Guevara. He was escorted away by the carnival’s security guards and later taken into a police vehicle.

A man in a white T-shirt was taken into a police vehicle at around 8pm after sitting cross-legged on the ground outside the Sogo department store.

A 70-year-old man, who gave only his surname, Tin, told HKFP that he came to Victoria Park this year to commemorate the crackdown alone, calling it a “pity” that the annual vigils were no more.

The vigils “showed Hong Kong’s freedoms, that we could speak our opinions freely,” Tin said as he walked around the perimeter of Victoria Park’s football pitches. The site, where the vigils were once held before Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, is currently hosting a five-day patriotic food carnival.

“Now this freedom has been restricted, and no one dares to say anything critical across society,” he added.

Tin noted that police presence at the park on Thursday was less heavy-handed than in previous years, when police told him to turn off his phone torch.

But he also said fewer and fewer people had shown up in Victoria Park on June 4, expressing concern that the public memory of the crackdown may wane in the future.

E-commerce shop As One, operated by former district councillor Derek Chu, continued to distribute candles this year on June 4. Meanwhile, Hunter Bookstore, run by ex-district councillor Leticia Wong, sold candles at HK$6.4 each.

Pastor Grace Bok of the One Body of Christ Church said she and a group of friends decided to come to Victoria Park for a “walk” at around 10pm.

Bok said that while many feared the heavy police presence in the area, coming to walk around the former vigil venue should be permitted as a form of commemoration.

“It is your own activity, your own way to remember,” she told HKFP in Cantonese. “People should be allowed to remember.”

As night fell, the mood at Victoria Park appeared festive, with music pouring out of the patriotic Hometown Market Carnival.

For the fourth consecutive year, the food carnival is being held in Victoria Park in the week of the crackdown anniversary.

Police officers patrolled the perimeter of the park in small groups, while two robodogs dressed in lion dance costumes and a humanoid robot walked around the market.

While the police presence remained heavy inside and around Victoria Park this year, officers appeared more tolerant of commemorative acts.

They patrolled in smaller groups than in previous years and did not search as many people as before.

At around 9pm, several reporters interviewed a man who was drawing with a few cans of Kronenbourg 1664 beer beside him. The police’s media liaison officers asked journalists not to block the way, but did not interrupt the interview or the man drawing.

Vigil leaders under trial

Leaders of the group that organised the vigils for decades are now standing trial for “inciting subversion” under the national security law. They face up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.

Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday urged the Hong Kong government to release the vigil activists, Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, ahead of their verdict, which is expected in July.

The group said a global petition with over 52,000 signatures had been handed over to the Hong Kong government, urging the immediate release of the pair.

“This is the seventh year Hong Kong’s Victoria Park candlelight vigil has been extinguished by the authorities. But it cannot be extinguished worldwide. From Hong Kong to diaspora communities worldwide, people continue to keep the memory of 4 June alive with creativity and resilience,” said Fernando Cheung, a former Hong Kong lawmaker and now a spokesperson of Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas.

In Beijing, authorities reportedly prevented the families of victims who died in 1989 from visiting their graves at Wan’an Cemetery, a move Amnesty International called “a heartless act.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that “no amount of censorship can erase the past,” according to AFP.

Beijing said on Thursday that Rubio’s remarks “distort historical facts, smear China’s political system and development path, and interfere in China’s internal affairs.”

On Wednesday, Hong Kong performance artist Sanmu Chan was stopped and searched by plainclothes police after showing up in Causeway Bay holding a 6.4-metre-long red string ahead of the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.

Another artist, Chan Mei-tung, was also searched and escorted to leave Causeway Bay by police after she appeared with balloons – one shaped like a golden question mark – at the shopping district on Wednesday night.