Hongkongers queued from around Friday midnight to grab freshly printed copies of Apple Daily in bulk, shrugging off a warning by the city’s security minister for the public to “keep a distance” from the newspaper after an obtrusive police raid on its headquarters the day before.

In response to the Thursday operation of more than 500 police officers, Apple Daily produced 500,000 copies of its Friday issue.

The extra printing notwithstanding, newsstand vendors were left clamoring for more as some readers placed reservations worth as much as a few thousand dollars with them to buy the newspaper.

The first batch of the day’s edition reached a stall in the downtown shopping area of Mong Kok around 1 a.m., when a number of people were already waiting to get their hands on the paper. Some made purchases of two or three copies each, but others bought 10 or 100 copies at one go to show their support, taking the stacks of papers with them using a trolley or a car. In less than two hours, 1,880 copies at the newsstand were sold out.

One of the customers was Joyce, an elderly resident of Lok Fu who arrived in a car and got 10 copies for herself and her friends. Clutching a walking stick in one hand, she told Apple Daily that she had long been a supporter of the newspaper and praised its reporters for their bravery and determination to give of themselves.

She acknowledged being politically apathetic in the past, but had grown disappointed with the Communist Party of China in the wake of developments such as the plight of Liu Xia and her late husband Liu Xiaobo, and the death of Li Wangyang, who was reportedly found hanged and standing on the floor in his cell.

Joyce also cocked a snook at threats issued by the government on Thursday. On the possibility that social media users might be in breach of national security laws by sharing and retweeting Apple Daily articles, she said: “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Can’t be worrying so much.” She added: “Trashy talk. Getting trashier and trashier. Seriously, morons say moronic things.”

Another woman, surnamed Chan, told Apple Daily that she was a subscriber of the newspaper’s online version but still bought a copy on Friday as an indication of support for the media outlet. “I’m afraid I won’t have the chance to buy it anymore,” Chan said.

One restaurant owner lugged away 300 copies to distribute to his customers. “For freedom,” he said. Another left a stack of 40 at the door of his dining outlet in the local heartland of Mei Foo along with a note that encouraged passers-by to help themselves: “Take your own newspaper.”

On Thursday morning, police officers swarmed Apple Daily’s offices in Tseung Kwan O, eventually carting away 44 computer CPUs and loads of news materials. They also arrested two members of the managerial team and three senior journalists on suspicion of violating national security laws by publishing articles that were said to have called for sanctions on the Beijing and Hong Kong governments.

It was the second time since August last year that police had raided the Apple Daily headquarters. Police said the search warrant they used, which was issued by a court, gave them the authority to search for and seize journalistic records.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play