Hong Kong's government said on Tuesday (June 6) that it had asked the city's high court to ban the playing of the national anthem "Glory to Hong Kong", which was born out of mass protests in 2019.
The government has sought an injunction, and if granted, it would be the first song banned in Hong Kong since the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.
The song, composed anonymously, first emerged in August 2019 amid massive, sometimes violent demonstrations in Hong Kong demanding political change.
A defiant protest song that incorporates a key protest catchphrase - "break now the dawn, liberate our Hong Kong; in common breath, revolution of our times" - in its Cantonese lyrics, and became the unofficial soundtrack to the demonstrations.
It is now almost illegal to sing or play it after Beijing cracked down on protests and passed sweeping national security laws in 2020 to quell political dissent.
The government said on Tuesday that it decided to apply to the court for the injunction because "Glory to Hong Kong" is often mistaken for Hong Kong's national anthem.
The proposed ban "is to restrain anyone from disseminating or performing, etc., the song with the intention of inciting others to commit secession, or with a seditious intent, or … with the intent to insult the national anthem".
香港尋求法院禁止抗議國歌
香港政府週二（6 月 6 日）表示，已要求香港高等法院禁止播放因 2019 年大規模抗議而誕生的國歌《榮耀歸香港》。
政府已尋求禁令，如果獲得批准，這將是自 1997 年這個前英國殖民地移交給中國以來香港被禁的第一首歌曲。
這首匿名創作的歌曲於 2019 年 8 月首次出現，當時香港發生了要求政治變革的大規模、有時甚至是暴力的示威活動。
一首挑釁的抗議歌曲在其粵語歌詞中融入了一個關鍵的抗議標語——“破曉，解放我們的香港；共同呼吸，我們時代的革命”——並成為示威活動的非官方配樂。
在北京鎮壓抗議活動並於 2020 年通過全面的國家安全法以平息政治異見之後，現在唱歌或演奏它幾乎是非法的。
政府週二表示，它決定向法院申請禁令，因為“光榮歸於香港”經常被誤認為是香港的國歌。
擬議的禁令“是為了限制任何人傳播或表演等意圖煽動他人分裂國家，或具有煽動性意圖，或......意圖侮辱國歌的歌曲”。
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