5 Years After National Security Law, Many Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Groups Have Disbanded

News Analysis

Five years after the implementation of Beijing’s national security law (NSL), many pro-democracy political parties, trade unions, professional groups, and civic organizations have disbanded in Hong Kong.

The most recent is the League of Social Democrats, a 19-year-old organization that held a press conference last month to announce its dissolution, citing “tremendous political pressure.” The group was the only remaining pro-democracy party in Hong Kong that was still active.

On June 30, 2020, the NSL was officially implemented in Hong Kong. That day, the group Demosisto, founded in 2016 by student activists Nathan Law, Joshua Wong, and Agnes Chow, announced its dissolution. Wong, former secretary-general of Demosisto, said that it was no longer absurd to worry about one’s safety when engaging in pro-democracy resistance in Hong Kong.

Law and Chow went into exile in the UK in 2020, and Canada in 2023, respectively, while Wong was sentenced to 56 months in prison for participating in the 2020 Democratic Party primary election.

In August 2021, the 48-year-old Professional Teachers’ Union announced its dissolution. The organization had been the largest teachers union in Hong Kong until then.

In September 2021, the prisoner rights organization Wall-fare, founded by former Legislative Council member Shiu Ka-chun, announced its closure after operating for nine months. At that time, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said that there were people in prison who had joined forces with people outside to “establish a power base and endanger national security.”

In October 2021, the 31-year-old Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions officially disbanded. Following the implementation of the NSL, the group was accused by Chinese state media of being a “foreign agent.” The union’s former chairman, Lee Cheuk-yan, has been remanded in custody over a case involving the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

The alliance, founded during China’s 1989 democracy movement, had held a candlelight vigil every June 4 for 30 years to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre. In September 2021, the police arrested four of the alliance’s leaders. In October 2021, the group was deregistered and banned by Hong Kong authorities.

The alliance; Lee, who was also chair of the alliance; and Albert Ho Chun-yan and Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, former vice chairs, have been charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” though they have not yet been formally tried.

Warning to the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party was founded in 1994 and was once the largest pro-democracy party in the Hong Kong Legislature.

In December 2024, the party announced the results of its general election, and Lo Kin-hei was reelected as its chair. Two months later, on Feb. 20, 2025, the Democratic Party Central Committee announced the establishment of a three-member group to follow up on the dissolution and liquidation arrangements. Lo said on the same day that the party still wanted to contribute to Hong Kong, but there were many reasons for the dissolution that could not be disclosed.

At that time, Hong Kong media outlets reported that the party had received “suggestions” to dissolve from a number of other groups, including “messengers” with official backgrounds in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On April 13, the Democratic Party held a special general meeting of all members and agreed to authorize the dissolution with an overwhelming majority. Lo declined to comment on allegations that some members of the party had received warnings that if they did not dissolve, they would face serious consequences.

Several members of the Democratic Party were also imprisoned in the 2020 primary election case.

League of Social Democrats Disbanded

On June 29, 2025, the 19-year-old League of Social Democrats held a press conference to announce its disbandment. The group emphasized that its members would continue to advocate for their beliefs in various fields in Hong Kong.

When asked what the pressure for dissolution was and when the idea of ​​dissolution was instigated, league Chairman Chan Po-ying only replied that what could be said had been said and that there was no way to further elaborate on the reasons.

After the dissolution of the league, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy parties have been completely suppressed by the CCP. Although the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood has not been dissolved, it has held almost no activities in recent years. It is also not able to obtain any seats in the Legislative Council or District Council under the new electoral system.

According to a 2024 report by the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University, a total of 90 nongovernmental organizations and 22 media outlets ceased operations from June 30, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2023.

Former Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping told The Epoch Times that the root cause behind the disbanding of the league and other pro-democracy groups “lies in the Chinese Communist Party’s intolerance of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong.”

He said the destruction of all these civil society organizations “marks the end of freedom in Hong Kong and signifies that the CCP has achieved its political goal of dismantling the city.”

Wu added that Hong Kong has fallen into silence, which will further deepen political corruption and drag the city under a CCP-induced reign of terror.

Hong Kong-based writer Ngan Shun-kau wrote on social media, “The political environment in Hong Kong has regressed for at least 50 years, and Hong Kong will never go back unless there is a dramatic change in mainland China.”

However, he believes that Hong Kong citizens can still passively resist harmful policies and spread the truth.