Activist Alvin Cheng Kam-mun was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly accessing a computer with dishonest or criminal intent, according to local media. Cheng uploaded a video on Saturday calling for “resistance” to library books printed in simplified Chinese.
The police arrested Cheng, a member of populist political party Civic Passion, as he was setting up a campaign stand on Hong Kong island.
Members of his group protested outside Chai Wan Police Station, where his supporters said he was giving testimony to police.
Cheng’s video on Facebook showed a person throwing books written in simplified Chinese characters into the libraries’ bins and hiding them in corners, such as in cabinets or behind lockers.
Simplified characters are a set of Chinese characters with a reduced numbers of strokes, currently in widespread use in China. However, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao have always maintained their use of traditional characters.
【香港圖書館戰爭 自發將「殘體書」下架抗洗腦】近日有媒體揭發由2006年至今，公共圖書館已購入多達60萬本殘體字書籍，當中不少為歌頌中國共產黨的兒童政治讀本。這反映港共政權的洗腦教育早已深入社區，荼毒香港下一代！且外，康文署轄下各區圖書館的藏書空間有限。有市民更指署方故意收起部分正體圖書，以騰出更多空間混雜殘體字書籍於正體字圖書的書架上，意圖魚目混珠。而且殘體字圖書採用的都是大陸用語，家長稍有不慎，兒童隨手拿起《我愛中國共產黨》等流腦書籍閱讀。孩子不但潛移默化地學習了大陸劣質語文，更連典雅正體字也棄如敝屣漸被「洗腦」。本人發起捍衛公共圖書館行動，呼籲守護香港每一代的市民，自發到圖書館內把殘體字圖書下架，做到遍地開花，對抗染紅殘體書！請參考影片或用自己方式去行動！
Posted by 四眼哥哥（鄭錦滿） on Saturday, 2 April 2016
Cheng said on his Facebook page that public libraries have “purchased up to 600,000 books in simplified Chinese characters, and many of them are children’s reading material, political in nature and sing the praises of the Chinese Communist government.”
He said “this sort of brainwashing education has already infiltrated communities and is poisoning our next generation.” He urged Hongkongers to take books with simplified characters down from their shelves and resist “red books with crippled characters.”
HKFP has contacted the police for comment.
Update 11:50am: Cheng has been granted bail and will report to the police in early May.
