The Hong Kong Department of Justice applied [8] to the Special Administrative Region's High Court on June 5 for an injunction to prohibit any performance or online dissemination of the song "Glory to Hong Kong [9]," anthem of the 2019 protest movement. The government asserts that the song contains secessionist lyrics and constitutes an insult to the Chinese national anthem, "March of the Volunteers [15]." The action seeks to remove 32 YouTube videos, asserting that they breach multiple laws in Hong Kong and China, including the National Security Law [10], the Crimes Ordinance [16] and the National Anthem Ordinance [17].
However, thousands of Hong Kong citizens responded to the government's move by gathering in public to sing the song, in defiance of an ongoing ban on protests [11]. It also shot to the top of the iTunes charts. On June 12, Judge Wilson Chan postponed deciding on the petition until next month, finding it potentially overbroad and asking the government to be more specific on the breadth of its request. (Jurist [18], NYT [19], EuroNews [20], HKFP [21], Bloomberg [22])
