Saturday, November 4, 2023

Hong Kong Bans Protest Song Mistaken as National Anthem

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The Hong Kong government has taken legal action to ban the popular song, Glory to Hong Kong, which became the unofficial anthem of the 2019 mass protests. The Department of Justice has applied for a court order to prohibit the performance, broadcast, sale, or distribution of the song, including on the internet, on national security grounds. The government claims that the song has been “mistakenly presented” as the territory’s national anthem and has caused “serious damage” to the country and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The court order could result in prosecution for “secession” under the National Security Law or the colonial-era sedition law. The composer of the Cantonese-language song remains anonymous, but it emerged as a rallying call during the 2019 protests with lyrics calling for change. Amnesty International has criticized the move as an “absurd” crackdown on freedom of expression. The Hong Kong authorities have also called on Google to remove the song from its search results, but the technology firm has refused to comply.

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