Hong Kong court rejects govt bid

A Hong Kong judge denied yesterday a government request for an injunction banning "Glory to Hong Kong", a defiant anthem that emerged from the city's huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The Hong Kong government had in June requested an injunction order so that the song -- penned anonymously -- would be banned from being disseminated or performed "with the intention of inciting others to commit secession or with a seditious intent".

But Judge Anthony Chan wrote in his ruling yesterday that freedom of expression was a "highly important right" and that an injunction could cause "chilling effects" to innocent third parties even if that was not the government's intent.

"I cannot be satisfied that it is just and convenient to grant the injunction," said Chan, who is among a pool of jurists handpicked by the government to handle security cases.

"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'," he wrote.

"Whilst I entirely accept that no chilling effect is intended behind the injunction, it is the duty of the Court to keep in mind that there is a whole spectrum of Hong Kong people" with varying degrees of knowledge about the injunction, Chan explained.