BREAKING: Gov’t launches bid to appeal court’s rejection of ban on pro-democracy protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong has launched a bid to appeal against the court’s rejection of its bid to ban pro-democracy protest song Glory to Hong Kong, the government has said.
In a statement published on Monday afternoon, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said that the city’s justice minister had decided to appeal the High Court decision not to grant an interim injunction prohibiting unlawful acts relating to Glory to Hong Kong. The DoJ added that it had filed an application for leave to appeal.
“The Secretary for Justice acting as a guardian of public interest applied for the interim injunction for the purpose of discharging the constitutional responsibility of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security by effectively preventing, suppressing and imposing punishment on acts or activities endangering national security, and to preserve the dignity of the National Anthem,” a spokesperson for the DoJ said in the statement.
In its application for the injunction, filed on June 5, the DoJ sought to bar the distribution of pro-democracy protest song with the intention to incite secession, sedition, or to violate the national anthem law. The government also sought to bar anyone from assisting with those acts.
In his ruling, delivered on July 28, judge Anthony Chan said he was not “satisfied” that it was “just and convenient” to grant the government’s request for an injunction.
“Given that the Injunction is aimed at criminal acts but not lawful activities, I believe that the intrusion to freedom of expression here, especially to innocent third parties, is what is referred to in public law as ‘chilling effects’,” Chan wrote.
“With respect, I am unable to agree that the chilling effects may be dismissed simply because the Injunction is not aimed at lawful pursuits,” Chan’s ruling read.
The lyrics of Glory to Hong Kong, a song popularised during the 2019 extradition bill protests, contain the phrase, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan that was ruled to be capable of inciting secession during the city’s first national security trial.
See also: Explainer: Why, and how, the gov’t wants to ban protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’
Hong Kong already has a law criminalising insults to China’s national anthem or flag but said the injunction against the protest ballad was also necessary.
The justice department said in June the song was “likely to be mistaken as the national anthem,” and that its existence could suggest that the city has an anthem of its own or could encourage others to commit seditious acts. Injunctions would protect the national anthem from insult, it added.
‘Glory to Hong Kong’
Glory to Hong Kong was released on YouTube by a local songwriter identified only as Thomas, and his team, on August 31, 2019 – during the height of the citywide pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest.
It featured lyrics co-written by users of online discussion forum LIHKG. They called for democracy and freedom, and included the now-banned “Liberate” slogan.
The government has refused to say whether Glory to Hong Kong is illegal when asked by HKFP, despite the authorities’ insistence that the law is clear. Nevertheless, the recent effort to ban the song was preceded by other legal moves and arrests.
Last month, 27-year-old photographer Cheng Wing-chun became the first person convicted under the city’s national anthem law. He was sentenced to three months in prison after replacing March of the Volunteers with Glory to Hong Kong in a video.
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