People Vote for Press Freedom

People line up in Central to get a copy of Apple Daily today

If there was no coronavirus pandemic, people would have flooded the streets to protest the arrest of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying for breaching the national security law.
But here we are in the midst of the third wave, but Hongkongers used their wallets to vote for press freedom.

First many waited at 2am in the morning in front of newsstands for today's edition of Apple Daily. News sellers must have had a field day collecting money from people willing to buy one, two, five, 10 copies of the paper that they didn't normally buy.

People lined up in front of Cafe Seasons for food

One or two people who bought a whole stack of paper left them on the street for people to pick up and even attached the receipt there to show they weren't stolen.

Many people posted on social media that they had bought a copy of the paper, though there was one pro-Beijing resident who took several copies that someone else bought and dumped them in the recycling bin. At least he had the conscience to do that.

During the day people queued up at Cafe Seasons on Des Voeux Road in Central where Lai's son Ian has a restaurant. Apparently people lined up for at least half an hour to get a table or takeaway.
"I think the number of people buying lunch at Cafe Seasons is somehow a poll which reflects our opinions, Hong Kong people's opinion," said a woman surnamed Chan in her 30s, who works in the area.

"As you can see, the queue is so long that people have to wait for more than half an hour. It's a poll, in which people cast their votes for freedom."

Next Digital's stock rose again

And Next Digital stock continued to surge today, rising from HK$0.45 to as high as HK$1.70 then ending the day at HK$1.10.

In the past two days the stock (0282) rose 1,200 percent and was the third most traded stock today. Pro-democracy supporters were asked to buy the stock, resulting in nearly a staggering 4.1 million stocks trading, almost 10 times what was transacted everyday in the past year.

The price jump also made Lai a very wealthy man (on paper) worth HK$2.06 billion (US$266 million), and his company valued at HK2.9 billion, surpassing pro-establishment television station TVB to become the biggest publicly traded company in Hong Kong.

A few people complained about the stock's "unusual activity" to the Securities and Futures Commission and called on the body to investigate.

"The share price of Next Digital saw significant and abnormal movement on the day of [Lai's] arrest and today, but the SFC still has not taken any actions," said Innes Tang, chairman of the political organization Politihk Social Strategic, adding he was making an official complaint in his personal capcity.

"This is in stark contrast to [the SFC's] approach with companies in the past, and raises the question among the public as to the SFC's management approach and efficiency."

Police take Lai to his yacht in Sai Kung

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange after trading, Next Digital wrote: "The board is not aware of any reasons for these price and volume movements or of any information which must be announced to avoid a false market in the stock trading."

Meanwhile the SFC issued a statement strongly advising investors to exercise extreme caution when dealing in shares of Next Digital, while instructing the company to disclose to the market all future developments and information about its control, financial position and operations which could affect the stock price.

Lai owns 1.88 billion shares, or 71.3 percent of the company based on filings last March.
This morning Lai, handcuffed again, was taken by police to Hong Kong Marina in Sai Kung to board his yacht with his legal representatives.

What did the police think they would find on the boat?

The latest update at 11.35pm is that both of Lai's sons, Ian Lai Yiu-yan, and Timothy Lai Kin-yang have been released on bail. Activist Agnes Chow Ting has just been released.