HONG KONG-CHINA End of Hong Kong Citizen’s Radio: ‘forced to close’

The pro-democracy web station is following the same path as the Apple Daily newspaper and the Stand News website. “They froze the bank accounts, it is impossible to go forward.” Since the approval of the National Security Law, exactly three years ago, the former British colony has fallen to 140th place out of 180 countries in the freedom of information ranking.

Hong Kong () – Just before July 1, the anniversary of the handover to China, but also of the entry into force of the draconian National Security Law in 2020, another pro-democratic voice is dying out in Hong Kong. The historic station Citizen’s Radio – which has long only operated on the web – announced that it was ending its broadcasts today.

The announcement was made on Facebook by its founder, former member of the Legislative Council Tsang Kin-shing. “It was difficult to bring guests for our show, considering the free-falling changes in the political situation, the red lines and the dangerous situation after the Umbrella Revolution and the mobilization against the extradition law,” he wrote. Recently they even ‘froze’ the bank account and we can only pay rent until August.”

The closure of Citizen’s Radio is added to that of the Apple Daily newspaper – which suspended its publication on June 24, 2021, also in that case when the checking accounts of its editor and founder Jimmy Lai, who has been in jail since December, were frozen. of 2020- and the Stand News website, closed on December 29, 2021 after a raid and new arrests, always under the aforementioned National Security Law.

Tsang founded Citizen’s Radio in 2005 but never obtained a broadcast license. Following a complaint from the Communications Authority Office for using an illegal radio transmitter for FM broadcasts, the radio continued to broadcast its programs over the Internet. Several prominent democratic figures passed through it, such as the former presidents of the Democratic Party, Albert Ho and Emily Lau. One of its best-known voices was Leung Kwok-hung, a member of the League of Social Democrats, who is also in prison awaiting trial for helping to organize primary elections for the Legislative Council.

In 2019, at the height of the street protests, four hooded men brandishing clubs and hammers stormed the Citizen’s Radio headquarters and smashed through the glass door, but no arrests were ever made in connection with that episode.

The serious setbacks in terms of freedom of information in Hong Kong are reflected in the ranking produced each year by Reporter Sans Frontiers, where the former British colony fell from 74th place in 2020 to the current 140th, in a ranking of 180 countries.