Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and two opposition politicians have been charged with illegal assembly over a pro-democracy march last year.

The months of demonstrations calling for reforms in semi-autonomous Hong Kong crippled its economy and put its leaders and police force under unprecedented pressure.

Mr Lai was arrested at his home while former pro-democracy politician Yeung Sum and vice chairman of Hong Kong’s Labour Party, Lee Cheuk-yan, were also arrested.

Lee Cheuk-yan
Vice chairman of Hong Kong’s Labour Party Lee Cheuk-yan (AP/Vincent Yu, File)

After speaking with officers Mr Lai told reporters: “Well, the Hong Kong situation is getting tense here, but we have to go on, we have to go on.”

The three left the police station after being charged and are to appear in court on May 5. They could face up to five years in prison along with fines.

Senior police officer Wong Tung-kwong said all three were charged with illegal assembly in connection with the August 31 march, which was timed to mark the fifth anniversary of a decision by China against fully democratic elections in Hong Kong.

Organisers called off the march after police banned it, but hundreds of thousands of people defied the order and filled the streets in several areas of the Asian financial hub. Protesters threw petrol bombs at government headquarters and set fires in the streets, while police stormed an underground train and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray.

A fire from the August 31 protest march
A fire from the August 31 protest march (AP/Kin Cheung, File)

Hong Kong broadcaster TVB showed police on the platform of Prince Edward subway station swinging batons at passengers who backed into one end of a train behind umbrellas. The video also showed pepper spray being shot through an open door at a group seated on the floor while one man holds up his hands.

Police arrested thousands during the protest movement that began in June but fizzled out towards the end of the year amid harsher tactics by authorities. Prison sentences have been threatened against many on charges including rioting and possessing offensive weapons.

The demonstrations initially protested against proposed legislation which would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China to stand trial, but later included demands for democratic elections and an investigation into police use of force. Many fear Beijing is steadily eroding the legal guarantees and freedoms Hong Kong was promised after it was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Mr Lai is an entrepreneur and long-time activist who sold his clothing chain under political pressure and has since focused on media in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, Man-Kei Tam, called the arrests a “shameless attempt to harass and silence those in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement”.