The Guardian reports
Arrests believed to be first time police have detained citizens for possessing literature deemed seditious by authorities
Hong Kong’s national security police have arrested two men for possessing children’s books deemed seditious by the authorities, in the latest of a series of moves that underline the state of civil freedoms in the city.
The two men, aged 38 and 50, were arrested and detained after police and customs officers searched their homes and offices and found copies of “seditious publications” that allegedly “incited hatred or contempt” against the Chinese and Hong Kong governments and the judiciary, according to a police press release cited in the local media.
Police also alleged that the books could “incite others into using violence and disobeying the law”, adding that they were related to a concluded sedition trial.
The Chinese-language Mingpao newspaper reported that the publications were sent from Britain to Hong Kong and included several copies of illustrated children’s books in a series that portrayed Hongkongers during the 2019 unrest as sheep trying to defend their village from wolves, an apparent reference to the mainland Chinese authorities.
