Apple Daily fans rush for copies after police raid

Apple Daily supporters rushed to buy copies of the newspaper on Friday – a day after the authorities arrested five of the media outlet’s senior executives, raided its offices and newsroom, and froze assets worth millions of dollars.

The newspaper said it had increased its press run to 500,000 copies, up from 80,000 on Thursday.

Nevertheless, shops and newspaper sellers quickly sold out, with some people turning up in the early hours of the morning to make sure they got a copy.

“I want to support our newspaper for truth, the newspaper for Hongkongers,” said a woman surnamed Law. Tears formed in her eyes as she spoke to RTHK at a newspaper stand in Kwai Chung.

Another woman, surnamed Ip, said she thought it was best to buy a copy from a street vendor rather than a convenience store.

“Some people said on Facebook that if I bought it in Circle K or 7-11, they [Apple Daily] may not get the money because their bank accounts are now frozen,” she said.

“Apple Daily are the only ones who tell the truth, so I will support them until the end.”

A vendor in Mong Kok said he usually sells 60 copies of Apple Daily each day, but 1,800 were snapped up by dawn. He was waiting for a delivery of another 3,000 papers, he said.

A Kwai Hing newsagent, meanwhile, said one man had ordered 100 copies of Friday’s paper and took them away on a trolley.

Apple Daily had said it was devoting eight pages to Thursday’s action against it under the national security law.

Police warned the public not to share on social media past Apple Daily articles that “called for foreign sanctions”, saying anyone who did so would “attract suspicion”. The government, meanwhile, said people should distance themselves from the newspaper or “they would regret it”.