Back in August 2020, shortly after China had pushed through a new security law in Hong Kong, 200 police officers were sent to the offices of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper run by Jimmy Lai. Lai himself was arrested at home but was brought into the office and paraded around in handcuffs. The police also arrested other high ranking staff at the newspaper and seized papers and laptops.
Images from inside @appledaily_hk‘s building. Yes, this is #HongKong. pic.twitter.com/lgPyOoiLhs
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) August 10, 2020
That same day, China froze Lai’s accounts in an attempt to shutter Apple Daily. Because readers pushed to keep the paper going it actually survived for a while until China finally froze its corporate bank accounts, shutting down the only outspoken pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong.
The excuse for all of this was that Lai and others had…
