Hong Kong Court of Appeal Decision and Glory to Hong Kong Protest Anthem

Decision of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal in Hong Kong has accepted the government’s application to ban the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong.” In the Court of Appeal in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, the government’s request to ban the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” has been decided. The Court of Appeal accepted the request to ban the protest anthem and overturned the decision of the lower court from last year, which had rejected the ban request due to concerns about freedom of expression. Judge Jeremy Poon emphasized that the song was intended to be a “weapon” and had the power to evoke emotions among the residents of Hong Kong. Judge Poon said, “We accept the government’s application for the injunction being necessary.” Poon stated that the interim injunction was necessary to persuade online platforms to remove “problematic videos associated with the song.”

Scope of the Ban

The ban in question will target anyone who broadcasts or distributes the song advocating Hong Kong’s separation from China. Furthermore, any action presenting the song as a national anthem will also be prohibited.

Protest Anthem “Glory to Hong Kong”

“Glory to Hong Kong,” with lyrics written by a local music group, was frequently sung during the pro-independence protests in 2019. Subsequently, the protest anthem was mistakenly played instead of the Chinese national anthem at international sporting events.

The government had requested Google, the search engine, to display China’s national anthem as the “first search result” instead of the protest anthem when searches were made for Hong Kong’s anthem. However, Google rejected the request, stating that the Hong Kong government needed to provide a court order indicating that the song violated laws for the request to be accepted. Following this, the government applied to the court last year to ban the protest anthem. However, the court rejected the request to ban the protest anthem in July last year, and the government appealed the decision.