France is attached to the freedom and plurality of the press, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters on Wednesday, when asked about Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily's decision to print its last edition later this week.
Apple Daily will print its last edition on June 24, after a stormy year in which it was raided by police and its tycoon owner and other staff were arrested under a new national security law.
The end of the popular 26-year-old tabloid, which mixes pro-democracy discourse with racy celebrity gossip and investigations of those in power, has raised alarm over media freedom and other rights in the Chinese-ruled city.
(Reporting by Elizabetgh Pineau and Sudip Kar-Guptta; Writing by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
