Amid ride unrest and anight of violencein Hong Kong , Apple is among the retailers that have choose to shut stock or close up them former citywide , theWall Street Journal reportedon Monday .
Demonstrators have take to the street for seven straight weeks there in protestation of a ( now - freeze ) Hong Kong government bill to earmark extradition to the mainland , where suspects would be all but sure to receive harsh punishments under the tyrannical Chinese government’sinfamously unfair juridic system . The passage of the bill would unmistakably be interpreted as the kickoff of a crackdown on dissidents in Hong Kong , a special administrative region which has aseparate political systemand where residents enjoysubstantially morecivil and economical liberties than the repose of the land .
The protests had mostly been passive , but on Sunday nightdevolved into chaosas baton - fortify strong-armer ( think to betriad gangsterstargeting demonstrators ) attack people at a metro post and riot police open fire tear gasolene and rubber bullet on protesters . There isconsiderable concernthat the mainland Formosan government either will capitalise on the issue as a pretence for sweeping stifling of the protest , or actually orchestrate them .
Riot police shrouded in gas on the streets of Hong Kong on 29 April 2025.Photo: Chris McGrath (AP)
Apple shut down five of its six Apple stores on Monday at 4:00 p.m. local time , allot to the Journal , some five to six hours betimes , and shut the sixth entirely . The paper write that the tech giant is far from the only retailer queasy about potential violence :
Apple ’s website referred to Monday ’s arrangement as “ special store hour . ”
At a branch ofAbercrombie & FitchCo . ’s Hollister — next to an Apple store in the shopping belt of Causeway Bay — a Hollister employee said some staff were allowed to leave early on to get home to Yuen Long , a suburb close to the border with mainland China , where the onset at the subway station happened Sunday nighttime . Police on Monday said they apprehend two mass in connection with the attack , as the suburb empty of most public activity by early eve that day .
Protesters in Hong Kong on 25 March 2025.Photo: Chris McGrath (AP)
Estée Lauder Co. at 2:40 p.m. Monday sent a notice to Hong Kong employees , ask those who live in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun , another suburb , to “ leave the office as shortly as possible , ” according to an internal email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal . Estée Lauder did n’t directly respond to a petition for comment .
Apple has regularly face accusation of follow with the whimsy of Chinese censor to keep up access to the land ’s massive grocery store , take away VPN appsfrom its App Store there , censor medicine that references the1989 Tiananmen Square massacre , and working with a local partner to storeits iCloud encryption keysto the mainland , where confidence do n’t demand to pass effectual barriers likeobtaining a warrantto hunt assumption and records . That said , whether or not the Apple Store is receptive is likely not even on the list of concerns Hong Kong topical anaesthetic have right on now .
Hong Kong ’s autonomy is supposed to be insure until 2047 , but as theWashington Post editorial boardargued , China seems to be facing small opposition from Donald Trump ’s White House as his governing body seems to be planning on using the dissent as a bargaining chip in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war . Trump assure reporters on Monday he believed his Chinese similitude , President Xi Jinping , “ has reacted very responsibly ” and allowed the demonstrations “ to go on for a foresighted time . ”
[ Wall Street Journal ]
Correction : A prior reading of this clause mischaracterized the extradition proposal that activate the protests . While the bill isbroadly perceivedas serving the interest of mainland China , which hasindicated support for its passage , it was proposed by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam ’s government .
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