The owner of a Hong Kong independent bookstore has been accused of managing an unregistered school after holding a Spanish class at the shop earlier this year.
Book Punch owner Pong Yat-ming appeared at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday morning to face three charges linked to a Spanish class held at his bookshop in Sham Shui Po on April 23.
Pong stands accused of breaching the Education Ordinance by managing a school that was not registered or provisionally registered, according to the charge sheet.
The charge sheet also stated that he allowed somebody who was not a permitted teacher to teach at Book Punch. The individual’s name was given as Antonio Baro Montane.
Active Experiential Learning Company, the parent company of the bookshop, was charged with two offences – permitting an unregistered teacher to teach and owning a unregistered school.
Pong, a director of the company, faced a separate charge of “consent[ing] to or conniv[ing] at the commission of an offence” by the company.
The Witness reported on Thursday that Pong had no legal representation and applied for an adjournment to await documents from the prosecution. The case was adjourned to January 8.
Pong told HKFP that Education Bureau officers inspected his bookstore on the day of the Spanish class.
In early May, Book Punch said in a Facebook post that the visit, and the allegation that the shop was operating an unregistered school, was “unexpected.”
The event was an “interest class,” the post read, and did not involve any examination content or certification.
The bookshop added that “the most unexpected” action taken by the bureau was that it called schools in the district to ask principals whether any school teachers had brought students to the bookshop. Book Punch learned about the calls after being informed by some school staff, it said.
Book Punch and other local independent bookshops have been closely scrutinised by Hong Kong authorities in recent years. In July, a book fair featuring independent bookshops and publishers came under fire by Beijing-backed media outlet Wen Wei Po, which accused the organisers and participants of spreading “soft resistance” through a book fair.
Books with messages that “oppose China and disturb Hong Kong” were sold, the outlet reported.
In September, Book Punch said it was forced to cancel multiple events in the past two months due to “anonymous and false” complaints. The bookshop said some guests, such as university teaching staff and representatives of organisations, faced “top-down pressure” to withdraw from its events.
