Hong Kong's pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily said Sunday the freezing of its assets in a national security investigation had left the newspaper with cash for "only a few weeks" of operations. It may struggle to pay wages.

The newspaper, whose chief editor and chief executive have been detained under the new security law and whose offices were raided by 500 police officers Thursday, said the announcement was made in a management meeting on Friday.

Three companies related to Apple Daily are also being prosecuted for collusion with a foreign country and authorities have frozen HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of their assets.

Apple Daily plans to ask the government's Security Bureau to unfreeze the assets Monday and, failing that attempt, it may look to challenge the decision in court, the newspaper reported.

"The freezing of the assets of the three companies not only affects payrolls, but also normal newspaper operations," it said in an article. "It is understood that the company only has enough cash to continue normal operations for several weeks."

Apple Daily is also reviewing its stocks of ink and paper, it said.

Chief editor Ryan Law and publisher Cheung Kim-hung of pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper appeared at West Kowloon Court early Saturday on conspiracy charges brought under Hong Kong's national security law.

Law, 47, and Cheung, 59, were among five Apple Daily executives arrested on Thursday when 500 police raided the tabloid's newsroom, which authorities described as a "crime scene," Reuters reported Saturday.

Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen, Deputy Chief Editor Chan Puiman and Chief Executive Editor Cheung Chi-wai were denied bail and their case was adjourned to Aug. 13, according to a ruling by Chief Magistrate Victor So. The others were granted bai.

So said there were insufficient grounds "for the court to believe that the defendants will not continue to commit acts endangering national security".

It was the second time police had raided the Apple Daily newsroom after last year's arrest of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy activist and staunch China critic.

Lai owns Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily. Cheung is chief executive of Next Digital.

The arrests and raid have drawn condemnation from Western countries.

Law and Cheung are both charged with collusion with foreign powers, raising alarm over media freedoms in the financial hub as authorities intensify a crackdown under the contentious law.

The national security law that China enforced on Hong Kong last year has brought an authoritarian tone to most aspects of life in the former British colony, including education and arts.

On Friday, Apple Daily printed 500,000 copies of its newspaper, more than five times its normal daily circulation, a day after the tabloid's editors and executives were arrested.

"Right now, you can be charged with NSL because of a word or a speech that they didn't like. It's a big regression," Lo, 29, an Apple Daily reader, said as he joined crowds gathered at dawn Saturday outside West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts.

According to Kyodo News, the paper may be shut down, possibly before China's Communist Party's 100th anniversary in July.