Hong Kong’s Apple Daily announces closure after police raid

Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily announced Wednesday it was printing its final edition after authorities froze its assets using a sweeping new national security law, silencing the city’s most China critical media outlet.

The decision is the latest blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms and will deepen unease over whether the international finance centre can remain a media hub as China seeks to stamp out dissent.

Apple Daily has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side, with unapologetic support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and caustic criticism of China’s authoritarian leaders.

Those same leaders have made no secret of their desire to see the newspaper shuttered and have used the new security law to bring about its rapid demise.

Owner Jimmy Lai, currently in jail for attending democracy protests, was among the first to be charged under the law after its imposition last year.

But the final chapter of the 26-year-old paper was written over the last week when authorities deployed the security law to raid the paper’s newsroom, arrest six staff members and freeze its assets.

That last move crippled the paper’s ability to conduct business and pay staff.

On Wednesday, Apple Daily announced its closure “out of consideration for the safety of its staff”.