Epoch Times Defiant After Hong Kong Printing Press Ransacked By AFP News on April 13 2021 5:01 PM A Hong Kong newspaper linked to a spiritual group banned in China said Tuesday it would "never back down" after a gang of sledgehammer-wielding men ransacked its printing presses. The assault on the Epoch Times was captured on CCTV and comes as China oversees a sweeping crackdown against critics in Hong Kong following huge and often violent democracy protests in 2019. Footage released by the paper showed four masked men storming into the printing plant in the early hours of Monday morning and smashing up equipment.