Sawt Falasteen - Hong Kong opposition party disbands citing 'immense' pressure

The League of Social Democrats (LSD), founded in 2006, championed democratisation and grassroots issues in Hong Kong's legislature and on the streets.

It is the latest opposition party to cease operating after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 to curb dissent and end democracy protests that had brought the financial hub to a standstill.

"In the face of immense political pressure and after careful deliberation -- particularly with regard to the consequences for our members and comrades -- we have made the difficult decision to disband," LSD said in a statement.

Party chair Chan Po-ying said at a press conference that the decision to disband had been unanimous.

Asked if the pressure had come from Beijing's middlemen, Chan said she could not disclose details.

LSD, which had called for direct elections for the city's leader and legislature, won three seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council at the height of its popularity in 2008.

Its lawmakers were known for their colourful heckling and symbolic protests in legislative sessions, which included lobbing bananas and fish sandwiches at the city's leadership.

- 'Domino effect' -

Fernando Cheung, spokesperson for Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas, said LSD's dissolution "further reveals the near purging of Hong Kong's pan-democratic political parties and civil society organisations".

After the imposition of the national security law and with most of the city's democracy campaigners jailed or overseas, the Civic Party closed in 2023 and in February, the Democratic Party began winding down.

One of LSD's founding members, "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, remains behind bars after being found guilty of subversion last year, as part of Hong Kong's largest national security trial.

Another LSD activist, Jimmy Sham, was also jailed in the same case. He was released from prison last month.

In recent years, LSD had limited its public activities to a Sunday street booth in a shopping district where a handful of activists handed out flyers while filmed by police.

Chan said that Hong Kong is witnessing a "domino effect" and that her group will not be the last to fold, urging people "on the one hand to survive, and on the other hand to try to exercise our rights as citizens".

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST