Hong Kong police raid pro-democracy paper and arrest 5, magnifying concerns over erosion of press freedom

Apple Daily's editor-in-chief, Ryan Law, and four directors were detained on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces

Hong Kong's national security police arrested five executives at the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Thursday morning and raided its offices for the second time in a year as pressure on the city's media freedom intensifies. This time the raid targeted the news operation itself. Editor-in-chief Ryan Law and four directors were detained on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under the controversial national security law, which was imposed by Beijing last summer following the mass pro-democracy protests of 2019. Apple Daily is owned by Jimmy Lai, who is already in jail for a string of other protest-related charges while awaiting trial in a national security case. Lai and the paper are openly critical of China. There has been a wave of arrests and prosecutions since the security law came into effect, but this is the first time police have used a warrant to seize journalistic materials.