Hong Kong’s security net extends beyond arrests as small businesses pressured

HONG KONG — It’s been years since mass arrests all but silenced pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong. But a crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses.

Shops and eateries owned by people once associated with the largely subdued pro-democracy movement are feeling a tightening grip through increased official inspections, anonymous complaint letters and other regulatory checks.

Those critical of the city’s political changes say it’s a less visible side of a push to silence dissent that began five years ago when Beijing imposed a national security law to crush challenges to its rule, under which opposition politicians were jailed and pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was shuttered.

Leticia Wong, former pro-democracy district councillor, poses for photographs at her bookstore in Hong

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