Hong Kongers purchase Apple Daily in masses after Chinese Govt arrests owners
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Hong Kong‘s Apple Daily tabloid responded with defiance on Tuesday to the arrest of owner Jimmy Lai under a new national security law imposed by Beijing, promising to “fight on” in a front-page headline over an image of Lai in handcuffs.
Readers queued from the early hours to get copies of the pro-democracy tabloid a day after police raided its offices and took Lai into detention, the highest-profile arrest so far under the national security law.
It’s 2am in #Hongkong. There is a long line of people queuing up for the first batch of @appledaily_hk in Mongkok. We are livestreaming, and 6500 people are watching. I guess no one is getting much sleep tonight. pic.twitter.com/xdfnxdcvLg
“Apple Daily must fight on”, the front page headline read, amid fears the national security law amounts to an assault on freedom of speech in the semi-autonomous territory.
“Yesterday will not be the darkest day for Apple Daily as the subsequent nuisances, suppression and arrests will continue to induce fear in us,” it wrote in an editorial.
“Nevertheless, the prayers and encouragement of many readers and writers make us believe that as long as there are readers, there will be writers, and that Apple Daily shall certainly fight on.”
More than 500,000 copies were printed, up from the usual 100,000, the paper said on its website. A number of restaurant owners bought multiple copies with the intention to distribute for free to their patrons.
