Hong Kong’s weekly democracy protests are on hiatus thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, but China is apparently hankering for more fire: On Friday, it arrested three pro-democracy activists — notably, the outspoken media tycoon Jimmy Lai — for “illegal assembly.”

That charge can cover any public or private meeting that takes place without the prior consent of the commissioner of police.

Not that the Beijing-controlled establishment in Hong Kong was endorsing any public displays for democracy in the first place. It certainly refused to OK the Aug. 31 demonstration Lai was just arrested for.

Due in court March 5, Lai and the others face up to five years in prison.

The arrest seems almost designed to fire up the protests again. Lai, who splits his time between Hong Kong and Taiwan, is one of freedom’s most outspoken advocates in Asia. In 1995, he founded the Apple Daily newspaper, a forum for fierce criticism of Beijing.

The mainland is erupting in fury over the government’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis. Lai’s arrest may be a bid to warn off potential protests from Guangzhou to Chengdu to Shanghai.

Because the virus Beijing truly fears is the hunger for freedom.