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.

© Apple Daily.
Officers outside Jimmy Lai's house on Monday.

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.

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