HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s Justice Secretary Paul Lam said on Monday the government would appeal a high court judgment that had rejected its application to seek a legal injunction to ban a popular protest song, Glory To Hong Kong.

Hong Kong High Court Judge Anthony Chan on July 28 had dismissed an application by the government to ban the protest song Glory To Hong Kong, saying such a prohibition on the playing and distribution of the tune could undermine freedom of expression and cause potential “chilling effects”.

But a spokesman for the Department of Justice said in a statement that it would appeal the decision, given the need to safeguard national security, claiming the song had been used to incite secession and sedition.

The injunction application came after Glory To Hong Kong was mistakenly played instead of China’s national anthem March Of The Volunteers at several international sporting events.

China-ruled Hong Kong does not have its own anthem, but as a Chinese territory since its return from British rule in 1997, it uses China’s anthem.

The Department of Justice said the city’s justice secretary was obliged 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”.

The protest song was widely sung and played during the city’s months-long pro-democracy protests in 2019. It was later banned at schools after China imposed a national security law on the financial hub as part of a crackdown on dissent.

Hong Kong officials had also pressured Google to change its search results to display China’s anthem instead of Glory To Hong Kong when users searched for Hong Kong’s national anthem, but the technology giant refused. REUTERS