hong kong hong kong prodemocracy newspaper apple daily increased its print run more than fivefold to 500000 copies as residents lined up friday to buy the paper in a show of support for beleaguered press freedoms a day after police arrested five top editors and executivesthe raid on the papers offices along with the freezing of 23 million worth of its assets marked the first time a sweeping national security law has been used against the media it was the latest sign of a widening crackdown on civil liberties in the semiautonomous city which has long cherished freedoms that dont exist elsewhere in chinapolice said the editors were arrested on suspicion of foreign collusion to endanger national security based on over 30 articles that authorities said had called for international sanctions against china and hong kongon friday the national security department charged two men with collusion with a foreign country to endanger national security according to a government statement the two will appear in court on saturdayit did not name them but the south china morning post newspaper cited an unnamed source saying they are apply dailys chief editor ryan law and cheung kimhung the ceo of apple dailys publisher next digital the other three were being detained for investigationwith antigovernment protests silenced most of the citys prominent prodemocracy activists in jail and many others fleeing abroad people snapped up copies at newsstands and in convenience storesthere are lots of injustices in hong kong already i think there are a lot of things we cannot do anymore said resident lisa cheung buying a copy is all what we can do when the law cannot protect hong kong people anymore we are only left to do what we canthe front page of fridays edition splashed images of the five editors and executives led away in handcuffs police also confiscated 44 hard drives worth of news material a quote from cheung the arrested ceo of next digital said hang in there everyoneanother resident william chan said he bought a copy of the paper as a show of supportit was such a groundless arrest and suppressed freedom of the press he saidthe national security law was imposed after massive protests in 2019 challenged beijings rule by calling for broader democratic freedoms it outlaws subversion secession terrorism and collusion with foreign countries the maximum penalty for serious offenders is life imprisonmentsecurity minister john lee had on thursday warned other journalists to distance themselves from those under investigation at apple daily he said those arrested had used journalistic work to endanger national security and that anyone who was in cahoots with them would pay a hefty pricethe chinese governments liaison office in hong kong said in a statement thursday that it supported police action noting that while the citys mini constitution the basic law guarantees the freedoms of speech and press those rights cannot undermine the bottom line of national securityfreedom of the press is not a shield for illegal activities the liaison office saidstate