Al Jazeera :
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Stand News online media outlet says it is ceasing operations following a police raid and arrests of current and former editors and board members.
The outlet issued a statement on Wednesday saying its website and social media are no longer being updated and will be taken down. It said acting Editor-in-Chief Patrick Lam had resigned and all employees had been dismissed.
The statement came after hundreds of Hong Kong national security police raided the office of Stand News and arrested six people, including senior staff, for suspected “seditious publications” offences.
Stand News, which was set up in 2014 as a non-profit, is the most prominent remaining pro-democracy publication in Hong Kong after a national security probe earlier this year led to the closure of jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai’s iconic Apple Daily tabloid.
The raid further raises concerns about media freedoms in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise that a wide range of individual rights would be protected.
The police said in a statement they had a warrant authorising them “to search and seize relevant journalistic materials”.
“Over 200 uniformed and plainclothes police officers have been deployed,” the statement said. Al Jazeera’s Britt Clennett said the police had frozen $7.8m worth of assets and seized “subversive articles”.
“It is not clear what those articles are but the police said some of them had intended to split the country,” Clennett said, speaking from Hong Kong.
“We also heard from Hong Kong Chief Secretary John Lee who backed the police actions entirely, saying journalism cannot be used as a tool against national security,” she added.
Photos published on social media also showed non-uniformed police personnel hauling plastic crates outside the publication’s office.
Separately, police said they had arrested three men and three women, aged 34 to 73, without naming them, for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”.
According to news reports, Patrick Lam was among those who were arrested. Police in his home reportedly arrested lam and several gadgets were also confiscated from him.
Stand News earlier said that Ronson Chan, its deputy assignment editor who is also the head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was taken in for questioning.
The news site posted a video of police arriving at Chan’s residence and showing their court warrant.
