21-05-2025
Ex-district councillor arrested under Article 23 says she is being ‘silenced' after losing job, ousted from play
A former Hong Kong district councillor arrested under the city's homegrown security law last May has said she is being 'silenced' after being ousted from her job and a theatre production she was part of.
Katrina Chan, a former Tsuen Wan district councillor, wrote in a Facebook post on Monday that 'beneath the harmony and 'business as usual,' people's voices are being erased and silenced.'
She described two incidents that happened within 24 hours.
In the first incident, an actor taking part in a play opening in two weeks was told to quit after a government department, which the production rented the venue from, checked the name list, she wrote. If they did not quit, the department could refuse the rental on the basis that it might breach an ordinance.
In another incident, a teacher lost their job after an anonymous complaint letter was sent to the workplace.
Chan told HKFP on Tuesday that the two incidents happened to her on Friday.
The former district councillor made the post almost a year after she and five others were arrested under Article 23, the city's homegrown national security law, last May.
Their arrests were linked to a Facebook page called 'Chow Hang-tung Club,' named after the activist who was vice-president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, a group that organised Tiananmen vigils.
None of those arrested have been charged.
In her social media post, Chan said the things that happened to her may be brushed off as 'isolated incidents' – 'wording that is most commonly used by those in power.'
'By reducing everything to the person, the broader effects on the public and society are obscured,' she wrote in Chinese. 'The root of the problem lies in the system and structural shifts, not individual cases.'
According to local media outlet The Collective, Chan was scheduled to perform in a play at Tsuen Wan Town Hall this week.
In response to HKFP, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) said: 'All bookings of LCSD venues are processed in accordance with the established booking procedures and the terms and conditions of hire. We will not comment on any individual bookings.'
The Tsuen Wan Town Hall's conditions of use for renting facilities state that hirers and those admitted to facilities must abide by the Beijing-imposed national security law.
