The Decimation of Hong Kong Civil Society
#3 in the Hong Kong Repression Monitor series
The Hong Kong Repression Monitor series provides overviews of indicators of repression in Hong Kong, based on research and data collected from 2019 to the present. For more information, see this introduction, which will also provide a full list of entries in the series as they are published.
This article is #3 in the Hong Kong Repression Monitor series.
UPDATE: On February 5, 2026, Hong Kong Federation of Students (香港專上學生聯會) announced it will disband, citing “increasingly severe pressure.” Inactive for years, the 68-year-old HKFS was once a major force in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. It was once comprised of the eight public university student unions, but all of those but one, Lingnan University’s, have closed. The current HKFS chair, Isaac Lai, says its members have been subjected to constant harassment, including being followed and receiving threatening letters. Lai and three other leaders of Lingnan University student union were last year arrested on politically motivated “embezzlement” charges. (They have not been prosecuted.) Now at least 107 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past six years due to state repression. Of those, at least 22 are university student organizations.
UPDATE: On January 17, 2026, Chung Chi College student union (崇基學院學生會) of Chinese University of Hong Kong announced cessation of operations. It is the sixth announced closure of a CUHK college student union in the past month (see below for details on the others). The main CUHK student union closed back in 2023, as most other university student in Hong Kong have done. Now at least 106 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression. Of those, at least 21 are university student organizations.
UPDATE: On January 9, 2026, United College student union (聯合書院學生會) of Chinese University of Hong Kong told its members that it would be closing in the coming days. It is the fifth announced closure of a CUHK college student union in the past 20 days (see below for details on the others). Now at least 105 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression, and at least 20 university student organizations.
UPDATE: On January 7, 2026, Harmonia College student union (和聲書院學生會) of Chinese University of Hong Kong announced that it was closing. It is the fourth announced closure of a CUHK student union in 18 days, following Shaw College, Wu Yee Sun College and New Asia College student unions in December 2025 (see below). In its announcement, the Harmonia College student union noted that after the CUHK student union closed in 2023 (see below), the CUHK administration informed the college student unions that they had to register with the police. Following a long process (outlined in its announcement) that included the CUHK administration twice postponing the student union’s registration with the police, the student union has decided it can no longer operate. Now at least 104 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression, and at least 19 university student organizations.
UPDATE: In late December 2025, three college student unions of the Chinese University of Hong Kong announced they had ceased operations. Shaw College student union (逸夫書院學生會) made its announcement on December 21, Wu Yee Sun student union (伍宜孫書院學生會) on December 23, and New Asia College student union (新亞書院學生會) on December 27. All cited the CUHK administration’s refusal to recognize them as the reason for cessation of operations. The CUHK student union itself closed on October 7, 2021 (see below). The remaining college student unions since then have engaged in minimal political activity. On December 5, Hong Kong Baptist University suspended its student union after it made a statement about the Wang Fuk Court fire in November. In fact, the original HKBU student union had already passed a motion to disband in July 2024 (see below), and its current iteration is a kind of rump organization of the original. On December 22, news emerged that the University of Hong Kong had refused to allow students to use any university venue to hold a gathering to mourn the victims of the fire. Now at least 103 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression, and at least 18 university student organizations.
UPDATE: On June 30, 2025, Riders’ Rights Concern Group (外賣員權益關注組) announced it was disbanding with immediate effect. Soon after, its social media pages disappeared. It was a labor rights group for delivery workers. Recently, rumors had appeared that members of the rubber-stamp “patriots”-only Legislative Council had been warned not to discuss four issues, including delivery workers’ rights. Its leader was Mak Tak-ching, who was formerly a pro-democracy District Councillor from the Labour Party. Riders’ Rights Concern Group is the 16th labor rights group to announce its closure. Now 100 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression.
UPDATE: On June 29, 2025, League of Social Democrats (社會民主連線) announced it was disbanding with immediate effect. It was the last active pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong. While it would not comment on the timing of its closure, it has said that it was under tremendous pressure. One media outlet reported that it had been told three times by the authorities that it had to close before July 1, the anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong. As the last active pro-democracy political party, LSD had been constantly persecuted by the authorities in recent years, facing arrests of its leaders, trials, imprisonments, fines, closures of bank accounts, police visits at their homes, and more. One of its leaders, Leung Kwok-hung, remains in prison. He is projected to be released in March 2029. LSD is the sixth pro-democracy political party to announce its dissolution. The others are Demosistō, Neo Democrats, Civic Passion, Civic Party and Democratic Party. (Democratic Party has yet to fully disband but is in the process of doing so). Now 99 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed in the past five years due to state repression.
UPDATE: On June 12, 2025, China Labour Bulletin announced that it was dissolving. It said this was due to financial difficulties, but just about everyone suspects the story is more complicated than that. On the same day, the Hong Kong government announced the first “joint operations” between the Office for Safeguarding National Security, the shadowy Chinese agency in Hong Kong, and the National Security Department, the Hong Kong Police Force’s unit responsible for “safeguarding national security.” The joint operation was an investigation of a suspected case of “collusion with foreign forces.” Six people were interviewed and had their travel documents confiscated. While not confirmed, it is believed by many that CLB was the target of this operation. It has provisionally been added to the list below, making for now 98 civil society organizations in Hong Kong which have closed in the past five years due to state repression.
UPDATES: On April 15, 2025, Amnesty International Hong Kong announced it has opened a new AIHK section abroad. It is the first Amnesty section entirely in exile. AIHK closed its office in Hong Kong in 2021 due to repression. AIHK is the first organization listed here to have reopened overseas. On April 13, members of the Democratic Party authorized leadership to begin the formal process of disbanding. In all likelihood, this will lead to the closure of the party later this year. The Democratic Party is Hong Kong’s oldest and biggest pro-democracy party. It has now been added to the list below, though it isn’t yet entirely shuttered. There are now 97 Hong Kong civil society organizations listed below which have closed in the past five years due to state repression. UPDATE: On December 15, 2025, the Democratic Party formally voted to disband.
In a way, the decimation of civil society in Hong Kong is old news, and I have documented it elsewhere, including here back in October 2021. So this piece is intended as an update and a summation.
In all, at least 103 Hong Kong civil society organizations have closed due to state repression from December 19, 2019 to December 29, 2025.
Of these,
1 closed in 2019
1 in 2020
66 in 2021—the true annus horribilis—
17 in 2022
8 in 2023
2 in 2024
and 8 in 2025.
The period of mass closures was 2021 and early 2022.
The number of 100 civil society organizations closed should be regarded as the bare minimum. These are organizations that either were forcibly closed by governmental authorities or publicly announced their closures which were clearly caused or related to state repression. There are likely quite a few more organizations that silently ceased operations, or the exact nature of their closures is unclear or unknown, or they have not officially closed but have become moribund.1
Just to give one quite striking example: 16 labor unions and labor groups are known to have closed due to state repression (all included in the list below). But in 2021 and 2022, a total of 176 trade unions were deregistered on the official government register of trade unions. Of these, 144 were founded after the start of the protests in June 2019. That was a time of explosive growth in the number of new trade unions, many inspired by the protests and often with a strongly pro-democracy ethos and mission. It is likely that a substantial number of the 144 closures of union founded after 2019 was related to the political situation.2
The types of organizations that have closed due to state repression are:
media outlets (19)3
university student organizations (18)
labor unions (16)
neighborhood groups (8)
professional groups (7)
professional groups (7)
political parties (6)
religious groups (4)
protester and prisoner aid organizations (4)
so-called “yellow” (pro-democracy) businesses (3)
human rights organizations (2)
protest organizing groups (2)
groups primarily working in solidarity with Chinese human rights and democracy organizations (3)
independent booksellers (2)
as well as a group of elderly people, a cultural organization, a parents group, a technology organization, a law firm, and a polling organization.
The list of organizations forced to close includes some of the biggest, best-known, oldest, most influential and most illustrious:
Apple Daily, the biggest explicitly pro-democracy media outlet;
Stand News, the most vibrant, highest-quality online media outlet;
Civil Human Rights Front, which down through the years had organized many of the major demonstrations, including the biggest in 2019;
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements in China, which organized the annual June 4 candlelight vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre;
the oldest, best-known and most-reputable polling organization, Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute;
612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, the biggest organization supporting arrested and injured protesters, with donations from ordinary Hong Kongers in the hundreds of millions of dollars;
Confederation of Trade Unions, the largest pro-democracy labor group;
Professional Teachers Union, the largest pro-democracy union;
Six pro-democracy political parties: Democratic Party, Civic Party, Demosistō, League of Social Democrats, Neo Democrats, and Civic Passion;
and almost all university student unions, which for years had been in the forefront of the pro-democracy struggle.
The pattern has been the following:
1) crackdowns on several key organizations through a combination of arrests, raids, and freezing of assets;
2) other organizations then closing due to a combination of persecution, anticipated persecution, a desire to protect their members, and a sense that they simply could no longer carry out their mission under the new authoritarian dispensation;
3) still other organizations essentially being “harmonized;” that is to say, radically changing their positions, going silent on abuses they used to speak up about, and/or being taken over by figures allied with the regime. (Examples: Hong Kong Bar Association, Foreign Correspondents’ Club.)
4) and still other organizations trying to persist while preserving their original purpose, many facing persistent persecution in various forms. (Examples: League of Social Democrats, Hong Kong Journalists Association, various smaller independent media outlets.)
After five years of ongoing crackdown, the upshot is this: It can be said that truly independent civil society no longer exists in Hong Kong, as civil society organizations can no longer operate in the confidence that they will not be targeted by the regime on political grounds.
Some may consider this characterization too extreme and point out that many civil society organizations still exist. That is true, but they tend to be the sorts that are regarded as having no relation to politics or other “sensitive” issues such as law or human rights. So, for example, you will find international organizations like Oxfam and Greenpeace or service provision organizations like SOCO (Society for Community Organization). It is also true that some groups (as in point 4 above) do their best to persevere. But the fact that scattered and often beleaguered independent groups still exist, albeit often in reduced circumstances and despite persecution, is very different from having a flourishing, free and open civil society.
Recent signs of the extent of the regime’s efforts to entirely bring civil society to heel include recent changes to the Social Workers Registration Board to ensure a government-appointed majority and the subsequent crackdown on social workers regarded as oppositional, and the recent police raid on the Public Opinion Research Institute, the best-known polling organization in Hong Kong.
In this sense, it can be concluded the human right of freedom of association has been systematically and grossly violated and, to the extent that it still may exist, drastically curtailed in Hong Kong. Indeed, freedom of association exists at the forbearance and prerogative of the regime, not as a basic right that is respected, protected, fostered and promoted by all including the government.
What follows is 1) a list of civil society organizations that have closed due to state repression, and 2) further commentary and analysis, especially in regard to the impact of the crackdown on civil society.
The list is in chronological order, by date of closure (or, in some cases, date when operations effectively ceased).
Looking down over the list, one can’t help but be inspired by the sheer diversity of groups representing so many different sectors of Hong Kong united in their common aspiration for a free and open society and fully democratic political system, and also to despair at the tragedy of their destruction, emblematic of the larger tragedy of Hong Kong under full authoritarian rule.
The list is made up only of organizations based / headquartered in Hong Kong, and thus excludes international organizations. But it should be noted that several international organizations have found it necessary to close their Hong Kong operations or move them elsewhere as a result of the political situation. These include the human rights organization, Amnesty International’s Asia regional office (as well as its local Hong Kong section, which is included on the list below); Asia Monitor Resource Centre; New School for Democracy, Global Innovation Hub, New York Times; Radio Free Asia4; Initium; and Epoch Times.
Hong Kong civil society groups disbanded due to state repression
from December 19, 2019 to June 30, 2025
Spark Alliance (星火同盟 抗爭支援). Police froze accounts containing HK$70 million donated by Hong Kong citizens and arrest four members on December 19, 2019. Court ordered confiscation of the HK$70 million on September 26, 2022. 17-year-old volunteer convicted of money laundering in relation to about HK$160,000 on March 28, 2024. Never formally disbanded but is effectively dead. In operation for 3 years from 2016 to 2019, but continued to send out messages until January 2023. Supported arrested protesters.
Demosistō (香港眾志). Announced dissolution June 30, 2020, hours before the national security law came into effect. In operation 4 years from 2016 to 2020. Pro-democracy political party.
Christian Patriotic Democratic Movement (基督徒愛國民主運動). Closed January 1, 2021. In operation for 32 years from 1989 to 2021. Held annual June 4 activities.
Kick Start Wan Chai (灣仔起步). Closed January 6, 2021. In operation for 1.5 years from 2019 to 2021. Pro-democracy neighborhood group that fielded young candidates in 2019 District Council elections and won the most seats of any group in Wan Chai.
Union for New Civil Servants (新公務員工會). Closed January 16, 2021. In operation for 1.5 years from 2019 to 2021. A new union of pro-democracy civil servants that grew out of the 2019 protests.
Power for Democracy (民主動力). Closed February 27, 2021. In operation for 19 years from 2002 to 2021 (19 years). Pro-democracy group facilitated coordination between parties, organized July 2020 pro-democracy Legislative Council primary election for which 54 people were arrested for subversion under the NSL.
Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team (民間集會團隊). Closed March 3, 2021. In operation 1.5 years from 2019 to 2021. Organized numerous demonstrations during the 2019 protests that were pre-approved by police.
852 Post (852郵報). Closed May 15, 2021. In operation for 8 years from 2013 to 2021. Independent media organization founded by journalist Yau Ching-yuen.
18 District Council Liaison (十八區民主派聯絡會議). Closed May 15, 2021. In operation for 15 months from 2020 to 2021. Set up after pro-democracy landslide victory in District Council elections of November 2019 to coordinate between District Councils.
Chu Hoi-dick New Territories West team (朱凱迪新西團隊). Closed May 20, 2021. In operation for 5 years from 2016 to 2021. Team of young independent activists and politicians set up by Chu Hoi-dick to contest elections and support one another in New Territories West.
Good Neighbour North District Church 好鄰舍北區教會). Closed May 31, 2021. In operation for 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Pro-democracy church best known for its group 守護孩子 (Protect Our Kids) which sought to protect demonstrators from police violence at 2019 protests. Has since reopened in Birmingham, England.
Apple Daily (蘋果日報). Closed June 23, 2021. In operation for 26 years from 1995 to 2021. Largest-circulation daily newspaper in Hong Kong and the only large pro-democracy daily.
Community Sha Tin (沙田區政). Closed June 25, 2021. In operation 4 years from 2017 to 2021. Neighborhood group set up by pro-democracy Sha Tin District Councillor.
Ekklesia Hong Kong (春天教會). Closed June 26, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Pro-democracy and progressive church.
Neo Democrats. Closed June 26, 2021. In operation 11 years from 2010 to 2021. Pro-democracy political party.
Frontline Doctors’ Union (前線醫生聯盟). Closed June 28, 2021. In operation 19 years, from 2002 to 2021. One of the two main unions of doctors employed by the Hospital Authority, a public institution.
Médicins Inspirés (杏林覺醒). Closed June 30, 2021. In operation 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Founded in the wake of the Umbrella Movement to represent the voice of progressive, pro-democracy doctors.
g0v.hk. Closed June 30, 2021. In operation 5 years from 2016 to 2021. Inspired by Taiwan’s g0v.tw, its mission was to use technology to promote an open civil society and solve social problems.
Ignite Our Community (北炮同盟). Closed June 30, 2021. In operation 2 years from 2019 to 2021. Coalition of groups and people in North Point and Fortress Hill to support pro-democracy District Council candidates and Councillors.
Rice Post (米報). Closed July 1, 2021. In operation 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Independent online media organization.
Next Media Trade Union (壹傳媒工會). Closed July 3, 2021. In operation 12 years from 2009 to 2021. Labor union of employees of Next Media, Apple Daily’s parent company.
Progressive Lawyers Group (法政匯思). Closed July 4, 2021. In operation 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Formed in the wake of the Umbrella Movement to be a voice for progressive pro-democracy lawyers.
Progressive Teachers’ Alliance (進步教師同盟). Closed July 4, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Formed at the time of the Umbrella Movement to fight for universal suffrage.
Hong Kong Shield (文化監暴). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation for 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Emerging from the Umbrella Movement, a group of cultural figures fighting for universal suffrage and against state violence.
Financier Conscience (思言財雋). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation for 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Emerging from the Umbrella Movement, pro-democracy finance industry workers.
HK Psychologists Concern (良心理政). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Emerging from the Umbrella Movement, pro-democracy psychologists.
Umbrella Parents (傘下爸媽). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Emerging from the Umbrella Movement, pro-democracy parents of young demonstrators.
Civil Rights Observer (民權觀察). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Civil and human rights organization, had hotline providing legal assistance to arrested protesters during 2019 protests.
ActVoice (精算思政). Closed July 5, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Emerging from the Umbrella Movement, a group of pro-democracy actuaries.
Democratic Alliance (民主陣線). Closed July 12, 2021. In operation 20 years from 2001 to 2021. Pro-democracy group from Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai.
University of Hong Kong Student Union (香港大學學生會). De-recognized July 13, 2021. In operation 109 years from 1912 to 2021. The university administration announced it was cutting ties with the union, thus formally de-recognizing it, after the regime criticized its passing of a motion mourning the death of Leung Kin-fai, who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself on July 1.
Lingnan University Student Union (嶺南大學學生會). De-recognized July 15, 2021. In operation 54 years from 1967 to 2021. The university administration announced it would cease processing membership dues for union, thus cutting off its operating revenue.5
Maritime Transportation Service Industry Trade Union (航海交通服務業職工會). Closed July 22, 2021. In operation 1 year from 2020 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industries Employees General Union (製藥及醫療儀器業職工總會). Closed July 22, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Educators Alliance (香港教育同行陣線). Closed July 24, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. New group of pro-democracy teachers emerging from the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union (香港浸會大學學生會). De-recognized July 26, 2021. The university administration announced it had stopped processing student union dues, thus cutting off its operating revenue. It passed a motion to disband on July 8, 2024. In operation for 53 years from 1968 to 2021.
The Silver-hairs Who Are Old But Not Useless (銀髮族老而不廢). Closed August 4, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. Emerging from the 2019 protests, a pro-democracy group of elderly people who called themselves the “silver hairs” and showed solidarity with younger protesters.
Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union (香港教育專業人員協會). Closed August 10, 2021. In operation 48 years from 1973 to 2021. Hong Kong’s largest union, with over 95,000 members; pro-democracy.
Student Front Union (學生陣線聯盟). Closed August 11, 2021. In operation 1 year from 2020 to 2021. Student organization promoting autonomy.
Civil Human Rights Front (民間人權陣線). Closed August 15, 2021. In operation 19 years from 2002 to 2021. Large coalition of civil society organizations that organized some of the biggest protests in Hong Kong ever, including the annual July 1 pro-democracy march.
Finance Technology Service Workers Union (金融科技專業服務人員工會). Closed August 16, 2021. In operation 1 year from 2020 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Alliance for True Democracy (真普選聯盟). Closed August 18, 2021. In operation 18 years from 2003 to 2021. Coalition of pro-democracy parties fighting for full universal suffrage.
612 Humanitarian Relief Fund (612人道支援基金). Closed August 18, 2021. (Formal cessation of operations notice issued November 18.) In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. Provided financial assistance from crowdfunding of hundreds of millions of dollars to protesters arrested, prosecuted and injured in 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Pastors Network (香港教牧網絡). Closed September 2, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. Emerging from 2019 protests, group of pro-democracy Christian pastors.
Civic Passion (熱血公民). Closed September 4, 2021. In operation 9 years from 2012 to 2021. Pro-democracy political party.
Community March (社區前進). Closed September 8, 2021. In operation 4 years from 2017 to 2021. Pro-democracy neighborhood group of Yau Tsim Mong that became the biggest in the District Council after the landslide pro-democracy victory in 2019.
Wall-fare (石牆花). Closed September 14, 2021. In operation 1 year from 2020 to 2021. Provided assistance to and advocated for political prisoners; initiative of social worker, former prisoner, and pro-democracy leader Shiu Ka-chun.
Hong Kong Information Technology Workers’ Union (香港資訊科技界工會). Closed September 18, 2021. In operation 2 years from 2019 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (香港職工會聯盟). Closed September 19, 2021. In operation for 31 years from 1990 to 2021. With 61 member unions of 160,000 members, the largest labor group in Hong Kong; staunchly pro-democracy.
Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group (中國維權律師關注組). Closed September 21, 2021. In operation for 14 years from 2007 to 2021. Supported human rights lawyers in China.
Cheung Sha Wan Community Establishment Power (長沙灣社區發展力量). Closed September 21, 2021. In operation for 6 years from 2015 to 2021. Pro-democracy neighborhood group emerging from the Umbrella Movement.
Tsz Wan Shan Constructive Power (慈雲山建設力量). Closed September 22, 2021. In operation for 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Pro-democracy Wong Tai Sin neighborhood group emerging from the Umbrella Movement.
Student Politicism (賢學思政). Closed September 24, 2021. In operation for 1 year from 2020 to 2021. Pro-democracy student group emerging from the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會). Closed September 25, 2021. In operation for 32 years from 1989 to 2021. Organized annual June 4 candlelight vigil; founded & ran June 4 Museum; supported Tiananmen Mothers and Chinese human rights defenders.
Union of Hong Kong Occupational Therapists (香港職業治療師工會). Closed October 3, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Student Union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (中大學生會). Closed October 7, 2021. In operation for 50 years from 1971 to 2021. One of the two biggest university student unions in HK.
Tuen Mun Community Network (屯門社區網絡). Closed October 7, 2021. In operation 5 years from 2016 to 2021. Local pro-democracy community group. Won 5 seats in 2019 District Council elections.
General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists (香港言語治療師總工會). Closed October 13, 2021. In operation for 2 years from 2019-2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests; five leaders imprisoned for 19 months each for publishing “seditious” allegorical children’s books about sheep.
United College Students’ Union (中大聯合書院學生會幹事會). Closed October 18, 2021. In operation 59 years from 1962 to 2021. The union of a college of Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Defenders Rights (囹羽). Closed October 21, 2021. In operation less than one year in 2021. Prisoners’ rights group set up by Student Politicism, which closed on September 24, 2021.
Amnesty International Hong Kong Section (國際特赦組織香港分會). Closed October 25, 2021. In operation 40 years from 1981 to 2021. Local section of international human rights organization. AI’s Asia regional office in Hong Kong also moved.
Guardians of Hong Kong University Joint Team. Closed November 11, 2021. In operation 2 years from 2019 to 2021. Grassroots group of HKU students started to protest university president’s lack of social concern.
DB Channel (加山傳播). Closed November 4, 2021. In operation 2 years from 2019- to 2021. Grassroots media outlet.
Government Non-Civil Service Staff General Union (政府非公務員職工總會). Closed November 16, 2021. In operation 1 year from 2020 to 2021. New pro-democracy union emerging from the 2019 protests.
Chickeeduck. Closed November 18, 2021. (Shops closed in phases, with the last three closed by the end of 2022.) In operation 32 years from 1990 to 2022. Children’s clothing store that became the best known yellow shop in wake of 2019-2020 protests because its outspoken support of the pro-democracy movement and its sale of movement-related clothing and memorabilia.
Stand News(立場新聞). Closed December 29, 2021. In operation 7 years from 2014 to 2021. Major independent news website whose five board members were arrested and two editors convicted and imprisoned for “sedition.”
Hong Kong Exclusive Media News (香港獨媒新聞). Closed December 29, 2021 after Stand News arrests. Small citizen news media organization.
IBHK Internet Media (IBHK網絡媒體). Closed December 29, 2021 after Stand News arrests. In operation 9 years from 2012 to 2021. Independent news website.
Citizen News (眾新聞). Closed January 4, 2022. In operation for 5 years from 2016 to 2022. Independent news website.
Mad Dog Daily (癲狗日報). Closed January 4, 2022. In operation a total of 5 years in all from 1996 to 1998 and 2018 to 2022. Independent media organization associated with Wong Yuk-man.
Polymer (聚言時報). Closed January 5, 2022. In operation 8 years from 2013 to 2022. Grassroots media organization.
Dare Media HK(夠薑媒體). Closed January 6, 2022. Independent news website.
White Night (白夜). Closed January 7, 2022. Independent news website.
Education University Student Union. De-recognized January 20, 2022. In operation 27 years from 1995 to 2022. The university administration announced it had banned the union from using venues and resources, stopped collecting membership dues on the union’s behalf, and withheld current membership dues.
Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board (香港浸會大學學生會編輯委員會). Closed January 29, 2022. In operation 54 years from 1968 to 2022. Student media organization.6
City University of Hong Kong Student Union. Evicted February 14, 2022. In operation 37 years from 1985 to 2022. Student union vacated campus following eviction notice from the university administration rendering student union inoperable.7
Local Press (本土新聞). Closed March 1, 2022. Independent news reporting.
Polytechnic University Student Union. De-recognized and evicted April 15, 2022. In operation 28 years from 1994 to 2022. The university administration ordered the student union to stop using the university’s name and resources and to vacate campus by July 15, rendering the union inoperable. On June 24, students voted against formally disbanding the union but in favor of freezing its assets and indefinitely halting operations and recruitment.
Vidler & Co law firm. Closed June 3, 2022. In operation 19 years from 2003 to 2022. Served many clients in cases related to 2019 protests as well as other human rights cases.
CUHK Campus Radio. Evicted April 20, 2022. In operation 23 years from 1999 to 2022. Student media organization evicted by the Chinese University administration from campus office, virtually forcing it to close.
CUHK Student Press. Evicted April 20, 2022. In operation 53 years from 1969 to 2022. Student media organization evicted by the Chinese University administration from campus office, virtually forcing it to close.
CTU Education Foundation (職工盟教育基金). Closed May 12, 2022. In operation 20 years from 2002 to 2022. Affiliated with Confederation of Trade Unions; provided training courses for workers; closed to “reduce political risks.”
FactWire (傳真社). Closed June 10, 2022. In operation 7 years from 2015 to 2022. In-depth investigative journalism.
Hospital Authority Employees Alliance (醫管局員工陣線). Closed June 24, 2022. In operation 3 years from 2019 to 2022. Union of Hospital Authority workers; its chair Winnie Yu imprisoned on national security charges in the HK47 trial. The government gazetted the de-registration of HAEA on March 24, 2023.
Hong Kong Baptist University Communication Society (香港浸會大學傳理學會 ). Closed November 30, 2022. Student-run journalism organization ordered by university to cease operations because it published “inappropriate content”—a November 18 post titled, “The Third Anniversary of the PolyU Siege.”
Civic Party (公民黨). Announced impending dissolution December 5, 2022; voted to dissolve May 27, 2023. In operation 17 years from 2006 to 2023. Relentlessly persecuted moderate pro-democracy political party, with four members imprisoned.
Hong Kong White Collar (Administration and Clerical) Connect Union (香港白領 行政及文職 同行工會). Closed February 17, 2023. In operation 4 years from 2019 to 2023. One of the pro-democracy unions founded in the wake of the 2019 protests; deregistered by government for engaging in activities not properly related to their sector.
Citizens Radio (民間電台). Closed June 24, 2023. In operation 18 years from 2005 to 2023. Pro-democracy pirate radio station founded by activist Tsang Kin-shing; its bank account was frozen.
Lai Kei (荔記). Closed July 6, 2023. In operation less than 1 year from 2022 to 2023. Group-buying platform set up by three former political prisoners announces closure after police raid and arrests of those associated with 懲罰Mee.
Punish Mee (懲罰Mee ). Closed July 7, 2023. In operation 3 years from 2020 to 2023. App promoting yellow businesses, raided by national security police July 6; app disappeared July 7; several associates arrested.
Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis/Hong Kong Language Learning Association( 港語學). Closed August 28, 2023. In operation 10 years from 2013 to 2023. Group set up to safeguard Cantonese in Hong Kong; exiled founder announces he’s started the process to formally dissolve it after national security police raid his family’s home in connection with a story posted on the group’s website in 2020.
Ultimate Yellow and Blue Map (終極黃藍地圖 ). Closed August 29, 2023. In operation 4 years from 2019 to 2023. Online org dedicated to mapping pro-democracy (“yellow”) and pro-CCP (“blue”) businesses in HK as part of the Yellow Economic Circle initiative; announces closure of 「黃藍地圖」(Yellow and Blue Map) and「檸檬地圖」(Lemon Map), citing changes in the social climate and increased risk.
Hillway Culture (山道文化). Closed December 31, 2023. In operation 7 years from 2016 to 2023. Independent publisher, distributor and seller of books.
Mount Zero Books (見山書店 ). Closed March 31, 2024. In operation 6 years from 2018 to 2024. Independent bookstore that hosted various cultural events.
Hong Kong Christian Institute. Closed July 22, 2024. In operation 32 years from 1992 to 2024. Christian organization advocating democracy and human rights; says “it is constrained by the current social environment. The institution is unable to operate in a way where it can freely carry out its mission.”
Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (香港民意研究所). Announced potential closure February 13, 2025. In operation 34 years from 1991 to 2025. Started as the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong; became PORI in 2019. CEO Robert Chung was investigated by the national security police in January 2025. PORI announced it was suspending self-funded research and was considering closing down.
Democratic Party (民主黨). Members voted on April 13, 2025 to authorize leadership to formally begin the process of disbanding. In operation nearly 31 years, from 1994 to 2025. Five senior members reported that they had been told by CCP officials or middlemen to disband before the end of the year or face serious consequences. Once the biggest pro-democracy party in Hong Kong, it has become moribund in recent years, its candidates barred from running in elections. It will likely take months before the party formally and entirely ceases operations.
China Labour Bulletin (中国劳工通讯). Announced on June 12, 2025 that it was dissolving immediately. Founded in 1994 by Tiananmen leader Han Dongfang. While its announcement said it was closing due to financial difficulties, on the same day of the announcement, the Hong Kong government announced the first-ever “joint operation” between the Office for Safeguarding National Security, China’s shadowy security police in Hong Kong, and the National Security Department, the unit in the Hong Kong Police Force tasked with “safeguarding national security.” Six people were interviewed in relation to the investigation and had their travel documents confiscated. While not confirmed, many believe CLB was the target of that operation.
League of Social Democrats (社會民主連線). Announced on June 29, 2025 that it was disbanding with immediate effect. It was founded on May 1, 2006 and in operation for 19 years. It said it had been under tremendous pressure. One media outlet reported that it had been told three times by the authorities that it had to close before July 1, the anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong. It was the last active pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong. It had been incessantly persecuted. One of its leaders, Leung Kwok-hung, remains in prison until March 2029.
Riders’ Rights Concern Group (外賣員權益關注組). Announced June 30, 2025 that it was disbanding with immediate effect. A labor rights group for delivery workers. In operation since 2021. Recently, rumors had appeared that members of the rubber-stamp “patriots”-only Legislative Council had been warned not to discuss four issues, including delivery workers’ rights. Its leader was Mak Tak-ching, who was formerly a pro-democracy District Councillor from the Labour Party.
Commentary
That’s 98 civil society organizations in all.
Together, they represent the history of the development of civil society in Hong Kong over more than half a century. They can be categorized according to four different stages:
22 are decades old, pre-dating the 1997 handover;
19 arose between the 1997 handover and 2014 Umbrella Movement, when the pro-democracy movement was just taking shape;
24 started in the wake of the Umbrella Movement;
26 started in the wake of the 2019 protests.
(The founding dates of five organizations are unknown.)
The Umbrella Movement and the 2019 protests inspired an explosion of civic energy and the formation of many new groups. It is precisely this free and autonomous organizing among citizens that the regime wished to strangle.
In all, the 92 organizations for which there is information about their founding, had operated for 1,333 years.
The precise dates of death of the university student unions are a little bit less clear-cut because of the way they came about. The regime captured the administrations of Hong Kong’s public universities and then used them to crack down on the unions. This involved, variously, eviction from offices on campus, refusal to continue to collect annual fees on the unions’ behalf, and/or cessation of recognition of the unions as legitimate representatives of students. In some cases, the unions decided to formally dissolve. In other cases, they decided to persist, often with reduced or next-to-know capacity, with their sources of revenue cut off and no way of holding regular elections. For this reason, in general in the list above, I have taken the date on which the university administration took decisive action against the union as representing its “closure” because it represents the moment when the student union ceased being able to operate as it had previously, even if it may have decided to soldier on.
Leaders of at least 11 organizations on the list have been arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned: Power for Democracy, Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team, Neo Democrats, Chu Hoi-dick New Territories West Team; Apple Daily; Civil Human Rights Front, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, University of Hong Kong Student Union, Student Politicism, Hospital Authority Employees’ Alliance, and Civic Party.
As noted above, the regime has employed various methods to drive civil society organizations to extinction, largely involving a combination of arrests of key leaders, the freezing of funds, and the manipulation of laws to target the groups directly. These methods are intended to have a “killing the chicken to scare the monkeys” effect. If the monkeys don’t get the message, then the regime goes after them directly.
In some cases, it directly employs the mechanisms of government to shutter them. This is what it did to Hong Kong Alliance, simply removing it from the Societies Registry. It prosecuted the trustees of 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund for violating the Societies Ordinance, in particular for failing to register the fund under the ordinance. Hong Kong’s civil society used to be freewheeling—it wasn’t the sort of thing where either organizations or government were that concerned whether all the t’s were crossed and i’s dotted. Now “the law” is wielded by the regime as a weapon to batter the very organizations it is charged under both international and Hong Kong law with protecting.
It has frozen the accounts of Apple Daily and Stand News, effectively stealing their money. It did the same to Spark Alliance (星火同盟 抗爭支援), arresting its administrators, freezing HK$70 million in funds donated by ordinary Hong Kong people to help arrested, prosecuted and injured protesters, making extravagant claims of fraud and money laundering, and then eventually, years later, prosecuting a single person, a teenager, for, essentially, money-laundering, insisting in the trial that his “crime” actually had nothing to do with Spark Alliance. By the time of his conviction, in March 2024, more than four years after the arrest of him and two others who eventually fled Hong Kong, Spark Alliance was long-gone. So, Spark Alliance isn’t even on the list of civil society organizations forced to close due to state repression because it never officially closed, but it is certainly dead. In fact, Spark Alliance is an interesting case in that it is arguably the first civil society organization the regime went over, its initial arrests happening on December 19, 2019.
The two big episodes that lead to an avalanche of closures in 2021 and 2022 were the arrests of 53 people on January 6, 2021 in connection with the pro-democracy primary election of 2020 and the arrests of board directors and editors of Stand News and the freezing of its accounts on December 29, 2021. While the regime has moved swiftly, it has also acted tactically, targeting key groups and individuals and seeing the effects before proceeding further.
This approach by the regime has forced civil society organizations to face a stark choice: close or remain open.
Many have chosen to close, seeing no future under such intense repression and wishing to protect their members and associates.
Those which have decided to attempt to continue functioning can be classified in two categories.
In one category are those that attempt to stick to their original purpose. Examples are the political party, League of Social Democrats, and the labor group, Hong Kong Journalists Association. Both have been repeatedly targeted by the regime for persecution. (There will be a future Hong Kong Repression Monitor article on LSD as a case study in the various forms of harassment they have had to endure. HKJA is subjected to constant petty persecution, from harassment of members of its executive committee to repeatedly thwarted attempts to book football pitches.) Independent bookstores largely flew under the radar in the first stages of the attacks on civil society, but after some of the bigger targets were wiped out, the regime has targeted independent bookstores for constant “inspections” by various governmental agencies. As a result, two have closed and others continue to operate under besieged circumstances. (There will also be a future Hong Kong Repression Monitor article on book censorship in Hong Kong which will focus on the persecution of independent bookstores.)
In another category are those that have “adapted.” This means they have ceased being critical of the regime and have largely “harmonized” their operations so as to avoid any attacks by the regime. Examples here are the Hong Kong Bar Association, which used to be strongly critical of the regime on legal issues and a bulwark against attempts by the regime to erode rule of law and human rights protections, and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, which used to speak out on human rights issues in general and those pertaining to freedom of the press in particular, hosting controversial speakers and running the Asian Human Rights Press Awards. The public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong has also been harmonized: once an independent outlet similar to the BBC in the UK, it has become a mouthpiece of the regime, more similar to Xinhua in China.
At present, the regime feels confident in its control over civil society. Virtually all of the organizations it felt most threatened by have been shut down. This explains the slowdown in the number of CSO closures in the past two years. As the recent raid of PORI (see above) and the ongoing persecution of independent bookstores attest, it will continue to take specific actions to rein in any other areas of society it sees as too independent, outspoken or oppositional.
Many new organizations have come up in the diaspora. This is why the regime has been issuing arrest warrants and bounties for exiled Hong Kongers. Quite a few of them are leaders and members of diaspora civil society groups, including Hong Kong Democracy Council, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor, Hong Kongers in Britain, Hong Kong Liberty, Independent Committee on Hong Kong Advocacy, the Public Opinion Research Project for Domestic and Overseas Hong Kongers, and China Strategic Risks Institute. The regime has blocked the website of HKDC and Hong Kong Watch in Hong Kong. Thus, essentially, it is exporting its crackdown on civil society, seeking to undermine these groups and discourage Hong Kongers from interacting with them or organizing abroad. (See the previous Hong Kong Repression Monitor article for more on the overseas crackdown.)
One organization is included in the list that has never formally announced its closure, Spark Alliance. This is because it is arguably the first organization the regime cracked down on, and it did so by using a method it would later regularly employ—freezing of assets and arrest of members. Ever since this occurred, Spark Alliance has for all extents and purposes ceased functioning, although it still maintains social media accounts where it has not posted since January 2023.
In fact, the trade union picture is somewhat murky and deserves greater research. Looking back over the years from 2017 to 2023, only one clear pattern emerges; that is, the huge growth in the number of registered unions from 2019 to 2021. In 2019, there were 866 unions; in 2020, nearly 500 more—1,355; and in 2021, still more: 1,472. that means from 2019 to 2024 there was an increase of 606, or nearly 70 percent. Over the past three years, there has been a steady decrease, from the peak of 1,472 in 2021 to 1,398 in 2022 to 1,377 in 2023 to 1,353 in 2024, 119 fewer than the peak but still nearly as many as at the time of the big boom in 2020; in other words, not nearly as few as the 866 before the 2019 protests. All this from official Hong Kong Labour Department statistics. See “Annual Statistical Reports of Trade Unions in Hong Kong” and “Preliminary 2024 Statistics of Trade Unions in Hong Kong.” In effect, a large number of trade unions in Hong Kong cannot be considered truly independent because they are pro-CCP and affiliated with various pro-CCP organizations and often quite closely aligned to the Party itself. In 2023, InMedia found that 351 unions—about 24 percent of the total of the at-the-time 1,454 unions—were related to one of three pro-CCP labor federations: 194 to the Federation of Trade Unions, 139 to the Hong Kong-Kowloon Labor Union Federation, and 18 to the Hong Kong-Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions.
It is debatable whether media outlets should be included as civil society organizations. Some media outlets may be more appropriately classified as businesses, or media may regarded as its own separate and distinct category. For that reason, I will also include a separate Hong Kong Repression Monitor article that focuses solely on the media, in order to put a clear focus on the precipitous decline in Hong Kong press freedom in particular and freedom of speech more generally. In the Hong Kong context, most media outlets can arguably be classified as civil society organizations in so far as they—or at least the ones that closed—were more “mission-focused” than “profit-focused.” The only media outlet that closed that resembled a more traditional mainstream media organization is Apple Daily (ie, it was large and looked like and was run like a newspaper in other countries). Most of the other outlets that closed were small organizations, often with just a handful of staff members, and were founded and run with a clear pro-democracy outlook. Some of these were quite established and professional (Stand News, Citizen News, Factwire); others were quite shoestring, grassroots organizations. But arguably, they have characteristics similar enough to those of other civil society organizations to include them here, even Apple Daily because although clearly a big business, it was also an outspoken advocate for democracy. Also, it is worth noting that while many independent media outlets have closed due to state repression, some still persevere and struggle to maintain their independence, and a handful of new ones have actually opened that obviously have as their mission to uphold and perpetuate Hong Kong’s long tradition of independent journalism.
The Lingnan University Student Union appears to continue to exist as a sort of rump organization without operational capacity. In 2024, the Lingnan University president made the bizarre statement that the union never was part of the university. As of January 29, 2025, the union was still listed on the university’s official website as a student group. But it has been unable to recruit new members or form an executive council and appears to be run by a caretaker or temporary executive council. The student union lasted posted on its Facebook account on September 1, 2024, welcoming new students to the university and acknowledging the difficult conditions for civil society organizations in general and unions in particular. Since then, there appears to be no further activity.
Technically, the board is moribund rather than defunct: all members of the board resigned en masse to protest university censorship; unclear whether it will function again.
After being evicted from campus, the CityU student union rented an office in Sham Shui Po, but it has not been allowed to hold any events or conduct any activities on campus.