Hong Kong police arrest media tycoon Jimmy Lai on illegal assembly charges

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 (Feb 28) after Hong Kong media tycoon and founder of Apple Daily newspaper Jimmy Lai (not pictured) and two veteran pro-democracy activists were arrested on the suspicion of taking part in an unauthorised assembly on Aug 31 last year. - AFP

HONG KONG: Hong Kong police arrested publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, an outspoken critic of Beijing, and two other pro-democracy activists on Friday (Feb 28) on charges of illegal assembly, drawing condemnation from international rights groups.

Lai, a self-made millionaire who has made financial contributions to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement and has been a target of criticism for mainland Chinese media, was picked up by police at his house, Cable TV and TVB News reported.