The news of the arrest of Jimmy Lai, who owns the Beijing-critical newspapers Apple Daily and Next Magazine, was tweeted out by an employee of Lai's media company and has been confirmed by a police source to the news agency AFP.
- We Hong Kong residents were obviously shocked when we were reached by this news. Jimmy Lai is a high-profile activist who is active in the democracy debate, unlike many other media owners, says student activist Anson Yip in SVT's Morgonstudion.
She believes that the National Security Act is a threat to freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Hong Kong.
"A nail in the eye"Jimmy Lai is said to have been arrested on suspicion of "cooperation with foreign powers". Fredrik Fällman, who is a sinologist at the University of Gothenburg, believes that it is a pretext used when there is no better reason to arrest someone.
- Almost anything that does not follow the Beijing regime can be interpreted as a threat to national security. Jimmy Lai is a nail in the coffin for the Beijing regime.