{"id":116697,"date":"2021-06-18T03:03:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T03:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=116697"},"modified":"2021-06-18T03:03:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T03:03:22","slug":"hk-democracy-supporters-snap-up-apple-daily-copies-amid-anger-at-police-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/hk-democracy-supporters-snap-up-apple-daily-copies-amid-anger-at-police-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"HK democracy supporters snap up Apple Daily copies amid anger at police raid"},"content":{"rendered":"
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong democracy supporters rushed to buy copies of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Friday, citing anger over a police raid of the organization\u2019s newsroom as part of a probe into whether some articles threatened China\u2019s national security.<\/p> The popular 26-year-old paper, which combines pro-democracy discourse with celebrity gossip and investigations of those in power, increased its Friday press run to 500,000 copies, up from 80,000 the previous day.<\/p>\n During the morning commute, some newsstands in central Hong Kong placed announcements that Apple Daily had sold out. One stand showed a picture of the paper\u2019s logo with the words \u201cSupport press freedom\u201d beneath it.<\/p>\n One reader, Tsang, who only gave his last name because of the sensitivity of the matter, bought his copy at midnight, as soon as it was delivered from the printing press.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never know when this newspaper will die,\u201d Tsang said. \u201cAs Hong Kongers, we need to preserve the history. Hang in there as long as we can. Although the road is rough, we still need to walk it, as there\u2019s no other road.\u201d<\/p>\n Tam, a 40-year-old banker, said Friday morning he had bought his first newspaper in 20 years after hearing about the raid.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t mean to do anything with the newspaper in my hand. It\u2019s just for my conscience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Police arrested five executives, including Apple Daily\u2019s chief editor, at dawn on Thursday and froze HK$18 million ($2.32 million) of assets owned by three companies linked to the paper before cordoning off the building.<\/p>\n It was the second time police had raided the newsroom after the arrest last year of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy activist and staunch Beijing critic, who owns Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily.<\/p>\n The newspaper printed a similar number after Lai\u2019s arrest in August 2020.<\/p>\n The front page of Apple Daily reported the raid, which involved 500 officers, saying police had seized 44 hard disk drives as evidence.<\/p>\n On Thursday night in the Apple Daily newsroom, Ng, a graphics journalist who only gave his last name, said the raid was \u201creally a pathetic moment for Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can\u2019t survive, there\u2019s no more press freedom,\u201d Ng said as he worked.<\/p>\n It was the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020 after almost a year of mass pro-democracy protests.<\/p>\n The European Union and Britain said the raid showed China was using the law to crack down on dissent rather than deal with public security. The United States said \u201cselective\u201d use of the law \u201carbitrarily\u201d targeted independent media.<\/p>\n The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum called in a joint statement for the immediate release of Apple Daily staff and the unfreezing of the company\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe national security law is being deliberately misused to suppress critical opinion and target those who dissent,\u201d said WAN-IFRA\u2019s executive director for press freedom, Andrew Heslop.<\/p>\n \u201cAuthorities are spreading fear and censuring media exercising their right to press freedom. China\u2019s attempts to impose authoritarian rule over Hong Kong\u2019s media cannot and will not go unopposed,\u201d Heslop added.<\/p>\n Hong Kong officials have repeatedly said press freedom and other rights were intact, but national security was a red line.<\/p>\n In a statement on Thursday, the Next Media staff union vowed to keep reporting.<\/p>\n \u201cAs difficult as the current circumstances may be, we will carry on with our jobs with the aim to publish our papers as normal,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n