The Hong Kong police was still caught on the back foot for a while by the 2019 protest movement. Until 2020, they learned from neighboring mainland China to “nip the problem in the bud.”

But now dissidents are facing punishment one by one. It's a formula we have seen many times before in Chinese history. To begin with, free speech is encouraged. Then the authorities step in to "rectify" the situation, before cracking down in the form

As the government pulls books from shelves, shutters newspapers and bans commemorative activities. But some people are holding onto their memories.