Hong Kong police have arrested five individuals on suspicion of sedition-linked violations of the national security law following coordinated raids on two independent bookstores in the city, local authorities confirmed in an official statement. The two male suspects, aged 37 and 57, and three female suspects between 30 and 59 years old, are accused of selling and displaying publications that Hong Kong officials claim incite hatred toward the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the territory’s judiciary and law enforcement institutions. Law enforcement officers seized hundreds of suspected unauthorized books from the two targeted shops during the operation, which was documented by AFP reporters who witnessed officers escort a handcuffed woman from one of the stores, Have A Nice Stay, into a police van. Have A Nice Stay, located in the densely populated Mong Kok district, was established in 2022 by a collective of former journalists, and specialized in titles covering democratic movements, global governance structures, media literacy and critical political analysis. Just one day before the raid, the bookstore had publicly announced it would permanently close in August, citing both persistent financial pressures and growing uncertainty around the unwritten ‘red lines’ that determine which reading materials are deemed unacceptable by authorities. Local media reports confirmed a second nearby shop, Greenfield Book Store, was also searched by officers during the operation. Greenfield Book Store states on its official Facebook page that it carries a curated selection of titles from Hong Kong and Taiwan, spanning genres including literature, history, philosophy, art, sociology and personal development. Neither of the two raided independent shops are participating in this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair, which opened to the public on Wednesday. This latest raid marks the third such operation targeting independent book retailers in Hong Kong in 2026. In June, two staff members were arrested at Hunter Bookstore, and four more people were taken into custody following a March raid at Book Punch, another independent outlet. Global human rights organization Amnesty International has condemned the latest arrests, arguing that the repeated raids lay bare the chilling effect of national security enforcement on freedom of expression in the territory. ‘This is the chilling reality of what Hong Kong has become: a place where you can be criminalized simply for what’s on your bookshelf,’ the organization said in a statement. Amnesty added that the persistent ambiguity around what content falls within unmarked regulatory ‘red lines’ has forced booksellers and authors across Hong Kong into a state of constant uncertainty, as they are forced to guess which titles could trigger criminal investigations, arrests or forced business closures. This climate of fear has driven widespread self-censorship among independent publishers and retailers, eroding the city’s once vibrant literary culture, the organization added. All five suspects currently remain in police custody for further investigation. If convicted on the sedition charges, they face a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment. Hong Kong authorities have not publicly released the names of the raided businesses, or details on which specific titles were deemed seditious.