“It sent chills to my heart:” Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily announces closure

People in Hong Kong flocked to newspaper stands to buy a copy of the pro-democracy tabloid-style newspaper Apple Daily on Wednesday after it announced it would print its last edition on Thursday.

The end of the popular tabloid, which mixes pro-democracy discourse with racy celebrity gossip and investigations of those in power, has raised alarm over media freedom and other rights in the Chinese-ruled city.

In a statement on its website, Next Digital said the decision to close the newspaper, which employs about 600 journalists, was taken "due to the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong."

“As a person working in the news industry, it sent chills to my heart,” Hong Kong Journalists Association chairperson, Ronson Chan, said. “We urge the government to fulfill the promise of safeguarding press freedom as stipulated in basic law.”

About 200 police raided the paper's newsroom in August last year, when owner Jimmy Lai was arrested on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces. Five hundred police took part in a raid again last week, when five other executives were detained.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7973258/hong-kong-pro-democracy-tabloid-apple-daily-print-final-edition/

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