Hong Kong adviser assures residents buying Apple Daily won’t violate national security law as queues greet first edition after arrests

‘Core issue’ behind Thursday arrests of five of the tabloid’s senior executives was articles calling for sanctions on the city or central government, Ronny Tong says

Newsstands, meanwhile, reported brisk sales, with some customers saying they believed purchasing the Friday edition was a way of expressing support for press freedom

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Customers snap up multiple copies of Friday’s Apple Daily on the morning after five of its senior executives were arrested. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 2:14pm, 18 Jun 2021Updated: 5:28pm, 18 Jun 2021

A government adviser and senior counsel on Friday assured Hong Kong residents that buying a copy of Apple Daily would not violate the national security law, a day after police arrested five of the tabloid’s senior executives for allegedly colluding with foreign forces by calling for sanctions against the city and central government.

Ronny Tong Ka-wah’s reassurances, which followed Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu being quizzed on the issue a day prior, came as some Hongkongers flocked to purchase the tabloid in a show of support, with morning queues at some newsstands and additional copies stacked at convenience stores.

The newspaper said it had printed about 500,000 copies of Friday’s edition – among the most ever since its launch in 1995 – which led with the arrests on the front page and a headline quoting publisher Cheung Kim-hung as saying “everyone must hold on”. Cheung is also CEO of Apple Daily’s parent Next Digital.

The front page of Friday morning’s Apple Daily focused on the arrest of five of its executives and search of its offices by national security police. Photo: Sam Tsang

At a newsstand in Kwai Fong, orderly queues could be seen, with a few people buying three or more copies at once.

“I bought Apple Daily because I want to support press freedom … What happened yesterday shouldn’t have happened at all in Hong Kong,” said a woman surnamed Yong, 31.

Wilson Lee, in his 40s, said: “We Hongkongers don’t have any way to change what happened yesterday, so this is our way of showing support and, to some extent, comforting ourselves.”

At a convenience store in Aberdeen, a staff member told the Post they usually order 70 copies and about 20 are left at the end of the day. They ordered 400 for Friday and had sold about 100 by about 9am.