19-year-old Hong Kong student charged with insulting China’s anthem granted bail
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong student charged with insulting China’s national anthem during a 2026 World Cup Asian qualifier in Hong Kong in June has been granted bail.
Lau Pun-hei, 19, appeared at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday. He was charged last week with insulting the national anthem during a match between the city’s football team and Iran held at Hong Kong Stadium on June 6.
He was said to have turned his back to the field and not stood up as the March of the Volunteers was played in the stadium, and was apprehended at the scene.
According to local media reports, magistrate Don So granted Lau bail on a sum of HK$20,000. Separately, his mother also had to provide HK$1,000 as surety.
The charge was laid more than five months after Lau was arrested alongside another man and a woman at the qualifying match for the international football championship to be held in 2026. The other two have not been charged.
Local media reported at the time that some plainclothes police officers were observing spectators and filming them as the March of the Volunteers was played to the stadium.
Hong Kong passed a law that criminalised insulting Chinese national anthem the March of the Volunteers in 2020. The law regulates the use of the national anthem and sets out standards of behaviour when it is played, with those breaching the legislation facing a fine of up to HK$50,000 dollars and imprisonment for three years
Under the law, one must “stand solemnly” and “not behave in a way disrespectful to the national anthem.”
Lau will appear in court for a mention again on January 6.
National anthem law
Lau’s is the third prosecution since the national anthem law was enacted, local media reported.
In August, a man was sentenced to eight weeks behind bars after he was found guilty of insulting the anthem during a volleyball game at the Hong Kong Coliseum last June.
He initially filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence, but dropped the challenge in October.
Last July, a man who replaced China’s national anthem with protest song Glory to Hong Kong in an online video was sentenced to three months in prison over insulting the national anthem.
The court heard that he had laid an instrumental version of protest song Glory to Hong Kong over a video of Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung receiving a gold medal in the Olympics in 2021. The March of the Volunteers was originally played in the video.
The government has sought to ban Glory to Hong Kong by criminalising acts related to the song that involved illegal intentions.
After a lower court initially rejected the government’s application for an injunction banning four types of criminal acts relating to the song, an appeals court in May sided with the authorities to approve the injunction, calling it “necessary” for persuading online platforms to remove “problematic videos.”
The government’s effort came after the song was confused with China’s anthem March of the Volunteers at international sporting events, resulting in mishaps in which the protest song was played in place of the anthem.
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