Hong Kong Journalist Arrested After Covering Gathering Linked to 2019 Protests

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Asia Pacific|Hong Kong Journalist Arrested After Covering Gathering Linked to 2019 Protests

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/world/asia/hong-kong-arrest-journalist-activist.html

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Hong Kong Journalist Arrested After Covering Gathering Linked to 2019 Protests

The national security police detained Tang Ho-wing, founder of the independent outlet Boom News, according to local media and watchdog groups.

Listen · 4:36 min

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!An officer in riot gear, chases a protester, his baton raised in the air. The protester, in a hard hat and his jacket being pulled by the officer, attempts to run across the road.

*Riot police officers clashing with protesters in Hong Kong in 2019. Tang Ho-wing covered a gathering that marked the anniversary of the storming of Prince Edward station by riot police.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times*

By Sui-Lee Wee

Oct. 1, 2026, 5:54 a.m. ET

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The Hong Kong police detained an independent journalist on “suspicion of incitement by spreading disinformation,” according to the local media. It was the first known case of a member of the press being arrested for sedition under a 2024 security law, a watchdog group said.

Local newspapers identified the journalist as Tang Ho-wing, who was covering a gathering marking the anniversary of a 2019 crackdown on protesters. Mr. Tang founded Boom News, an online outlet that publishes on-the-ground reports and broadcasts interviews on social media.

Boom had previously been targeted as part of Hong Kong’s crackdown on the press, and was one of at least six outlets that had been subject to random tax audits in the last three years, according to Reporters Without Borders.

According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Mr. Tang’s detention was the first time a journalist had been arrested for sedition under Hong Kong’s 2024 security law. Reporters Without Borders said Mr. Tang’s case “is yet another demonstration of how national security proceedings are weaponized to silence independent news professionals in Hong Kong.”

Sedition offenses could carry up to seven years of imprisonment. But if the authorities deem that someone is “in collusion with external forces,” the maximum penalty could be increased to 10 years.

On Wednesday at 7 a.m., Mr. Tang, 37, also known as “Boomhead,” was taken away by Hong Kong’s national security police, according to the South China Morning Post and Sing Tao, two Hong Kong newspapers. Video captured by Sing Tao showed a handcuffed man they identified as Mr. Tang being put into a car.

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