Senior Superintendent of Criminal Deployment of Hong Kong Island Wong Tung-kwong addressing the media outside the Kowloon City police station in Hong Kong on Friday after Hong Kong media tycoon and founder of Apple Daily newspaper Jimmy Lai and two veteran pro-democracy activists were arrested on the suspicion of taking part in an unauthorised assembly on Aug 31 last year. - AFP
Apple Daily, one of the publications under media company Next Digital in which Lai is non-executive chairman, said he was accused of participating in an illegal march on Aug. 31. The newspaper said Lai had followed a crowd along a central route for two hours on that day, singing hymns and praying. The three have been charged and will appear in court on May 5, he said. Police did not name those arrested, as per its standard practice. It also gave no further details.
Hong Kong saw one of its worst clashes on Aug. 31, with police firing tear gas and water cannons at pro-democracy protesters who threw petrol bombs. Lai was previously arrested in 2014 for refusing to leave a key pro-democracy protest site in the centre of the city. Following his arrest he resigned as editor in chief of Apple Daily. He has also come under scrutiny from Hong Kong's anti-graft agency when they raided his home in 2014.