Hong Kong police arrest five speech therapists over three books with ‘treacherous’ tales to children

Speech therapists behind three children’s books have been arrested on suspicion of inciting a backlash against Beijing.

The five were paraded hooded and handcuffed in Hong Kong yesterday and face the prospect of years behind bars.

Published by trade union the General Association of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, the books pit pro-democracy activists as sheep against wolves, said to represent China.

Superintendent Li Kwai-wah said the two men and three women, aged from 25 to 28, were attempting to stir up ‘the public’s – and especially young children’s – hatred towards Hong Kong’s government and judiciary and to incite violence and illegal acts’.

The five were paraded hooded and handcuffed in Hong Kong yesterday and face the prospect of years behind bars

Published by trade union the General Association of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, the books pit pro-democracy activists as sheep against wolves, said to represent China

‘Guardians of Sheep Village’ explained the city’s 2019 wave of protests.

‘Janitors of Sheep Village’ explains to readers that action against litter-bug wolves refers to a medical workers’ strike last year.

In ‘The 12 Braves of Sheep Village’, sheep flee by boat, a reference to 12 Hong Kongers jailed for trying to escape by speedboat to Taiwan last year.

The accused are charged with sedition – a colonial-era law that until 2020 had not been used since the 1997 handover to China.

It carries up to two years in jail for a first offence.

Prosecutors now regularly use it under the draconian national security law brought in by Beijing.

Police said: ‘Residents must see the facts clearly, not condone or beautify violence, and not let the next generation be incited and misled.’