Hong Kong citizens snap up final edition of Apple Daily, Taiwan edition to continue operations
Apple Daily
After being forced to close under a new national security law on June 24, Hong Kong's pro-democracy Apple Daily tabloid declared itself a "victim of tyranny" in a defiant final edition, ending a 26-year run of criticising China's authoritarian government.
Hong Kong's most popular tabloid had long been a thorn in Beijing's side, with unapologetic support for the city's pro-democracy movement and caustic criticism of China's authoritarian leaders.
The immediate closure of the popular newspaper is the latest setback for Hong Kong's freedoms, raising concerns about whether the international financial centre can continue to function as a media hub as China attempts to suppress dissent.
Queues formed across Hong Kong on Thursday as residents raced to snap up one of the one million copies Apple Daily said it planned to print. Many vendors sold out within minutes and were awaiting fresh deliveries.
A newsstand owner poses with a copy of the Apple Daily newspaper's final edition in Hong Kong's Central district on June 24, 2021. (AFP Photo)
The swansong front page featured the paper's journalists waving goodbye to crowds outside its headquarters.
"Apple Daily is dead," deputy chief editor Chan Pui-man, who was arrested last week on a national security charge, wrote in a farewell letter to readers.
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"Press freedom became the victim of tyranny."
Also Watch |Hong Kong's Apple Daily pro-democracy newspaper announces closure
In the working-class district of Mongkok, hundreds queued through the early hours of the morning to get their hands on the final edition, some chanting "Apple Daily we will meet again!"
"It's very shocking," a 30-year-old woman, who was in the queue and gave her first name like Candy, told AFP.
"Within two weeks, authorities could use this national security law to dismantle a listed company."
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese edition of Apply Daily promised readers that its operations would continue despite the island's government's criticism of its Hong Kong sister paper's closure under national security law.
People queue to buy copies of the Apple Daily newspaper's final edition in Hong Kong's Central district on June 24, 2021. (AFP Photo)
The cash-strapped Taiwanese edition of Apple Daily ceased its print edition last month, 18 years after it was founded. But its website is still going.
The company had planned to sell its Taiwanese wing in April. But its board later took a U-turn, saying the sale was no longer in its best interests.
Taiwan's top China policy-making body, the Mainland Affairs Council, warned on Thursday that the demise of the Hong Kong paper was "sounding the death knell" for the city's press and speech freedoms.
(With inputs from AFP)