Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, which cheered on the city’s anti-China protest movement in 2019, is shutting down after authorities used a national security law to arrest its top editors and freeze company assets.

Apple Daily will stop operating at midnight and publish the last print edition Thursday due to concerns over manpower and the safety of employees, the Hong Kong newspaper said on its website. Earlier on Wednesday, the board of parent company Next Digital Ltd. owned by pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai announced the newspaper would close on June 26.

"The Company thanks our readers for their loyal support and our journalists, staff and advertisers for their commitment over the past 26 years,” the board said. On Monday, the company said it would close the newspaper’s operations by Saturday if Hong Kong authorities continued to block access to its bank accounts following the arrests of senior editors and executives.