Hong Kong police officers raided the office of Apple Daily, a newspaper known for its critical coverage of China and Hong Kong, on Thursday morning.

Five senior executives, including the editor-in-chief, Ryan Law, have been arrested. Some 500 police officers took part in the raid and blocked all entrances to the office. Journalists were barred from filming the raid.

Apple Daily said its Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung, Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai were also arrested.

China's Hong Kong liaison office praised the "just action" of Hong Kong police in a statement.

DW's Hong Kong correspondent said the arrests are "a huge blow not only to the democracy camp but to the press as a whole in Hong Kong."

The police "urge all members of the press not to test a red line," Phoebe Kong said.

Police accuse journalists work of violating national security law

The Hong Kong government said in a statement Thursday that the National Security Department had arrested the five directors on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country.

After the arrests, Hong Kong Security Secretary John Lee said the raid targeted individuals who use reporting as a tool to harm national security. He added it is up to Apple Daily whether the outlet will continue operations.

It was the first time Hong Kong authorities said media reports may have breached the national security law Beijing introduced last year. Curiously, police said some of the dozens of reports concerned were published in 2019 which would pre-date the national security law.

Raid broadcast on Facebook

Apple Daily broadcast the raid live on its Facebook page, showing how officers set up a cordon around the complex and walked through the building.

"They arrived around 7 a.m. this morning, our building is besieged," an unnamed reporter said in a live commentary with the broadcast. "Now we can see them moving boxes of materials onto their truck."

National security police said that officers had searched a media company with a warrant that covers "the power of searching and seizure of journalistic materials."

Hong Kong senior police superintendent Li Kwai-wah said police had also frozen HK$18 million (€1.93 million or $2.32 million) in assets belonging to three companies tied to Apple Daily.

Publisher already in jail

The publisher of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, was arrested last year under the same law. 

Lai is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence for his role in unauthorized assemblies during mass pro-democracy protests of 2019. Last month, authorities froze Lai's assets and shares in Next Digital.

Apple Daily has backed Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, including the massive and sometimes violent protests that swept the international financial hub in 2019.

rm/sms (AP, Reuters)