The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force on Wednesday arrested seven people, including current or former employees of an online media outlet, on suspicion of sedition, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) police said on social media on Wednesday.

Seven people, four men and three women, were arrested for conspiracy to publish seditious publications, contravening sections 9 and 10 of the Crimes Ordinance, the police said.

The media outlet Stand News said hours later in a Facebook post that it would shut down and that "acting Editor in Chief Patrick Lam has resigned and all Stand News employees are dismissed."

The police said action against Stand News would not hurt media freedom and individual rights in the city.

In an earlier press release, HKSAR government said that six staff members of Stand News were arrested on Wednesday morning.

According to local media, among the arrestees were former and acting editor-in-chief of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam respectively, as well as former board members Denise Ho, Margaret Ng, Christine Fang and Chow Tat-chi.

The police said it searched the office of the online media company in Kwun Tong for relevant journalistic materials, adding that more than 200 police officers were involved in the operation.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)