Jailed Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo passed away at 5:35pm on Thursday following a battle with liver cancer. Upon news of his death, hundreds of Hongkongers lined up to pay their final respects to him in a vigil outside the China Liaison Office. While the city’s pro-democracy newspapers reported his passing on their front pages on the following day, pro-Beijing newspapers buried the news.
Apple Daily: “Murder by a tyrannical regime: Liu Xiaobo passes away”
Ming Pao: “Xiaobo tells Liu Xia to ‘live on well’”
The moderate pro-democracy newspaper printed its logo in black and white on Friday.
South China Morning Post: “Tributes and tears for Nobel Peace Laureate”
See also: Hundreds gather at vigil in Hong Kong to mourn Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo
Oriental Daily: “Fierce influenza kills 27 in 4 days”
The pro-Beijing Oriental Daily mentioned Liu’s passing in its front page, but led with a report on overcrowding at public hospitals due to high rates of influenza.
A detailed story on Liu’s life was presented on page 31.
Wen Wei Po: “Kick out the 4 clowns desecrating the oath: High Court hands down ruling today”
Beijing mouthpieces Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao both anticipated Friday afternoon’s scheduled court judgement on the possible disqualification of four pro-democracy lawmakers from the Legislative Council due to the way they took their oaths.
Ta Kung Pao: “Edward Yiu, Nathan Law, Lau Siu-lai and Leung Kwok-hung face disqualification: Judgement this afternoon”
Both Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, however, published brief reports on Liu’s passing respectively on pages 14 and 4.
China Daily: “Xi: China, Canada must enlarge trade”
The Chinese State Council-owned China Daily did not report on Liu’s death in Friday’s print edition at all.
The Asian editions of several international publications, such as the Financial Times, covered Liu’s death on their front pages:
See also: China under pressure to free widow of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo
