Bookseller Lam Wing-kee leads thousands in protest through streets of Hong Kong

Thousands of protesters took to Hong Kong’s streets yesterday in a strong show of support for a bookseller who returned from mainland custody to claim he had been kidnapped, even as his previously missing colleagues disputed his story and police on both sides of the border said they were ­discussing cooperation to resolve the controversy.

After his explosive revelations last week about eight months of forced detention and mental torture at the hands of a special central investigative unit, Lam Wing-kee led an estimated 6,000 people on a march from Causeway Bay to Beijing’s liaison office. Police said the turnout was 1,800 at its peak.

On revealing he had been nabbed after crossing the border into Shenzhen last October, Lam also claimed that his Causeway Bay Books associate Lee Po had told him he was kidnapped from Hong Kong in December. Lee has consistently said he went to the mainland voluntarily.

Speaking to the media yesterday outside his North Point flat for the first time since Lam’s claims, Lee said: “It’s true that we have met. But I didn’t tell him how I returned to the mainland. I decline to admit what he said about me.

“Talk about your story as you wish. I won’t make any comments. But don’t get me ­involved.”

Lam suggested his colleague had been threatened into silence.