Senior members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, the city’s last remaining major opposition party, said that Chinese officials and their proxies had warned the party to disband or face “serious consequences,” including possible arrests. Founded in 1994, the Democratic Party was Hong Kong’s first major pro-democracy political force. It emerged from a movement that began in 1982 to oppose any erosion of freedoms from China-U.K. negotiations on the territory’s future. In February, the party announced plans to disband amid an ongoing political crackdown under two national security laws, though it did not initially cite pressure from Chinese authorities.

Hong Kong's last remaining major opposition party took a key step towards disbanding itself on Sunday after a special meeting approved arrangements to do so in the face of pressure from China, amid a national security crackdown. Five senior members of the Democratic Party had earlier told Reuters that Chinese officials or middlemen had warned it in recent months to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests.

HONG KONG - Five senior members of Hong Kong's Democratic Party, the city's biggest and last remaining major opposition party, say Chinese officials or middlemen have warned the parties to disband or face serious consequences, including possible arrests. If the democrats disband, it would mark the end of nearly 30 years of opposition party politics in Hong Kong. There were no immediate responses to requests for comment from the Hong Kong Liaison Office, China's main representative body in Hong Kong, or from the Hong Kong government.