China | Unhallowed halls

Academics in Hong Kong suffer curbs on their freedoms

A climate of fear has enveloped the city’s campuses

HONG KONG’S universities are on summer holiday. Among the few students who remain on campuses, the mood is gloomy. On July 16th police raided the offices of the student union at the University of Hong Kong (see picture). The city’s police chief said some of the union’s leaders may have breached the national-security law that China imposed on the territory in 2020 following months of student-led unrest in the previous year. After Britain ceded control of Hong Kong nearly a quarter of a century ago, its universities remained free-spirited bastions of liberalism. Now they are gripped by fear.

The pretext for the raid was a resolution issued by the union expressing gratitude for the “sacrifice” of a man who had stabbed a police officer before killing himself. The government said the statement was “no different from supporting and encouraging terrorism”. The union apologised and its leaders resigned. But the authorities did not let the matter rest: police seized files from the union building and banned some of the former leaders from leaving the territory.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Unhallowed halls"

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