Hongkongers blocked from buying protest gear from Chinese ecommerce sites

Hongkongers can no longer buy umbrellas and black T-shirts on sites like Alibaba's Taobao and JD.com

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Black T-shirts, helmets and masks are a common sight among Hong Kong protesters. (Picture: Edmond So/SCMP)

Published: 5:32pm, 19 Aug 2019Updated: 9:11am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Hong Kong demonstrators will need to look beyond mainland China for supplies of protest gear that’s defined the look of the movement.

Queries on Chinese ecommerce portals such as Alibaba’s Taobao for umbrellas, masks and helmets would return the searches as “item not found” for buyers based in Hong Kong, while those on the mainland had positive results. Hong Kong logistics companies said a list of “sensitive items” which include black T-shirts, banners, laser pens and facial masks will be detained at customs.

Alibaba, China's ecommerce giant

Protests in Hong Kong have dragged on since early June, with the government warning of the damage to the economy and the city’s reputation. Police have used tear gas and rubber bullets on demonstrators who linger after peaceful rallies ended, and the confrontations have turned increasingly violent in recent weeks.

In such fights, protesters wear gas masks and helmets, and police have said some target strong laser beams at them. After entering search queries, ecommerce site JD.com showed helmets and laser pens are “out of storage for Hong Kong and Macau.”

A representative of Hong Kong’s customs says it didn’t receive any directive to control the import of protest-related items, and it doesn’t know if there are any restrictions from mainland customs. Outside of business hours, a call to China’s customs went unanswered, while representatives for JD and Alibaba, which owns Taobao, didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.