At the closed Causeway Bay Books store in the heart of a glitzy shopping district, concerned citizens have hung messages urging its missing proprietors to “come home safely” and “open the store again” while vowing that “freedom of speech never dies”.
Someone else has posted a banner outside the store, one of several in Hong Kong that specialise in books banned in China, warning that “mainland public security roam here”.
The semi-autonomous territory has been shaken by the mysterious disappearance of two owners and three staff from the shop and by allegations that they were taken by mainland security officers cracking down on the thriving trade in books about everything from corruption in today’s Communist party to the sexual proclivities of past leaders.