The Apply Daily, Hong Kong's last pro-democracy newspaper, printed and sold 1 million copies of its final edition on Thursday, according to AP.
Why it matters: The newspaper said it'sbeing forced to shut down after Hong Kong police froze $2.3 million of its assets and arrested arrested five senior executives under China's national security law.
- The newspaper typically only prints around 80,000 copies, according to AP.
The paper's forced closure is another sign of China tightening its grip on the once semi-autonomous city by cracking down on rights and freedoms previously enjoyed by those living there.
- The security law Beijing passed last year gave the Hong Kong government broad power to limit people's political freedom.
What they're saying: "This is our last day, and last edition, does this reflect the reality that Hong Kong has started to lose its press freedom and freedom of speech?” Dickson Ng, a graphic designer for the Apple Daily, asked the AP.
- “Why does it have to end up like this?”
The big picture: The front page of the Apply Daily's final edition carried an image of an employee for the newspaper waving at supporters surrounding its office with a headline reading, “Hong Kongers bid a painful farewell in the rain, ‘We support Apple Daily,'" according to AP.
- It's unclear if the Apply Daily's shutdown will cause other media outlets, such as the English-language South China Morning Post, to become more reserved in their coverage of Hong Kong and on mainland China issues.
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