Live streams showed officers lining up staff members to check their identities after entering at around 9:45am, whilst other officers went desk-to-desk.
The raid comes hours after Jimmy Lai - the founder of Next Digital, which owns the tabloid - was arrested in his home on Monday morning. He was detained for allegedly "colluding" with foreign forces - a crime under the new national security law.
Senior superintendent of the national security department Steve Li told reporters outside the building that officers had conducted an initial review to see which departments or units of the newspaper firm they were entitled to search under the warrant.
He said the force would refrain from searching departments that handle news and journalistic materials.
However, footage showed police flipping through items on staff members' desks.
Li did not present the warrant to reporters but said it was placed inside the company's building for legal representatives to check: "I can say our search process has been smooth so far. We hope to complete it as soon as possible and not disturb the operation of this media company."
'Attack on press freedom'
The Democratic Party criticised the raid, saying the government is tightening freedom of the press on a large scale: "It is the first time the government arrested members of the press under the national security law. They raided offices of a news outlet and created a deterrent effect among the industry. Press freedom and freedom of speech promised in the Basic Law is precarious."
The head of the University of Hong Kong's journalism department also said the raid was an "outrageous, shameful attack on press freedom."
"With police raiding a newsroom and a handcuffed editor doing a perp walk, I would say HK as we knew it is already unrecognizable. These scenes are shocking. And shameful," he tweeted.In June, Beijing enacted laws to prevent, stop and punish behaviours in Hong Kong that it deemed a threat to national security. The legislation was inserted into the city's mini-constitution, bypassing the local legislature, in order to criminalise subversion, secession, foreign interference and terrorism. The move - which gives police sweeping new powers - alarmed democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China.© Apple Daily.Officers outside Jimmy Lai's house on Monday.
While Russian deaths started rising to US, UK elevations, its near neighbour Belarus was containing COVID-19 in the way I was expecting Russia to have done, the way South Korea was still doing. The most likely reason for the Russian policy change has only come to light within the last week or two. Tyler Durden posted an article in GreatGameIndia.com which showed that the Belarus president, Alexandr Lukashenko, had been offered a bribe to adopt the same measures Italy had adopted - that is lockdown, curfews, masks and other severe restrictions.
In an act of integrity rarely found in world leaders Lukashenko refused the bribe.
Africa, which has had a very low infection and death-rate from COVID-19, has likewise had several of its countries targeted by multi-billion cash-cows - WHO and Bill Gates - which pretty well amounts to Bill Gates since he is one of the biggest donors to WHO. African countries which have been offered bribes include Tanzania, Burundi and Madagascar. It can hardly be assumed they are alone.
Meanwhile in Belarus life has gone on as normal. Football spectators have continued to go to matches and the season is in full swing with cup matches currently being played. According to the United Nations Human Rights Council a few companies have encouraged employees to work from home.
"be consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States" and "provide a surge capacity to support United States foreign policy objectives during crises abroad."The 1948 law that established these outlets outright prohibited their content from being broadcast in the US itself, until the Obama administration amended it in 2013.
Comment: See also: China detaining millions of Uyghurs? US-backed NGO and far-right researcher 'led by God' make flimsy claims against Beijing