12 August,2020 07:14 AM IST | Hong Kong | Agencies
People queue up at a news stand to buy copies of Apple Daily
Last year, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to demand full democracy, many egged on by a tabloid newspaper critical of China's ruling Communist Party.
On Tuesday, they lined up at newsstands across the city to buy that same paper, handing over 10 Hong Kong dollars ($1.25) a copy in a bid to help the Apple Daily - and press freedom - survive.
The public show of support came a day after police rounded up 10 people, including the paper's founder Jimmy Lai, and raided its headquarters. The move reinforced fears that a new national security law would be used to suppress dissent in Hong Kong after months of anti-government protests shook the city's leadership and the central government in Beijing last year.
A vendor arranges fresh copies of the newspaper on Tuesday. Pics/AP/AFP
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That people protested by buying a newspaper rather than by taking to the streets shows how much the climate has changed since the stormy protests last year. People also bought Next Digital stock to show support, driving its price up more than 300 per cent on Tuesday.
The Apple Daily remained defiant, printing 350,000 copies - five times its usual print run - after police investigators left Next Digital and told employees they could go back to work. Lines formed at newsstands on Tuesday in a public show of support.
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