Hong Kong police have searched four premises linked to the now-dissolved Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), after the pro-democracy protest coalition failed to submit information requested for a probe under the Societies Ordinance, according to local media citing sources.

The four locations searched by police on Thursday morning reportedly included the offices of the League of Social Democrats (LSD) in Cheung Sha Wan and LGBT rights group Rainbow of Hong Kong in Yau Ma Tei.

Civil Human Rights Front.
Civil Human Rights Front. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

A source at the LSD confirmed with HKFP that some officers presented a warrant to search their office, but refused to disclose further details. The activist group, a member of the CHRF before the coalition disbanded, has contacted their lawyers, the source said.

HKFP has reached out to police for confirmation and comment.

Local media reported that the raids were conducted in connection with the CHRF, which did not respond to a police request for information in April for an investigation into its alleged violations of the Societies Ordinance.

Chan Po-ying
Chan Po-ying, chairperson of the League of Social Democrats and wife of Leung Kwok-hung speaking outside the District Court on September 1, 2021. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

The force had requested the group, which organised some of the largest pro-democracy demonstrations in the city, to hand over its financial records, information about its member organisations and a list of public marches and rallies they held since September 2006, the year when CHRF cancelled its societies registration.

Until 2019, the police had cooperated with the CHRF for years in approving their mass July 1 pro-democracy demonstrations.

The protest organiser disbanded in August citing “unprecedented challenges,” with its leader Figo Chan jailed over protest-related offences and several member groups quitting amid attacks on the group by local Beijing-backed newspapers.

Hong Kong’s security chief Chris Tang said last month that legal liabilities of the CHRF would not be “wiped out” by its dissolution or the resignation of its members.

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Ho Long Sze Kelly is a Hong Kong-based journalist covering politics, criminal justice, human rights, social welfare and education. As a Senior Reporter at Hong Kong Free Press, she has covered the aftermath of the 2019 extradition bill protests and the Covid-19 pandemic extensively, as well as documented the transformation of her home city under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

Kelly has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong, with a second major in Politics and Public Administration. Prior to joining HKFP in 2020, she was on the frontlines covering the 2019 citywide unrest for South China Morning Post’s Young Post. She also covered sports and youth-related issues.