Hong Kong police said Tuesday that they are investigating how a democracy protest song was played instead of the Chinese national anthem at a South Korean rugby tournament.
The city’s sports teams play the Chinese national anthem, but before Hong Kong took on South Korea in the final of the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Incheon on Sunday, a protest song was broadcast instead.
Hong Kong’s government has reacted with fury, with the city’s number two official meeting South Korea’s top diplomat to request Seoul conduct its own “comprehensive” investigation.
In a statement, police said they are probing “whether the incident has breached the National Anthem Ordinance or any other legislation of Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong National Security Law.”
That latter provision, imposed by Beijing after huge democracy protests in 2019, claims universal jurisdiction.
That means Hong Kong and Chinese authorities say they can prosecute national security offences committed overseas.
“The Hong Kong government finds this incident unacceptable, and expresses opposition and strong dissatisfaction,” city leader John Lee told reporters on Monday.
Lee declined to give specifics on how the police will deal with an extraterritorial crime and did not say whether Hong Kong will ask Beijing to intervene.
Asia Rugby, the tournament organizers, said the protest song was played due to “human error from a junior member of the local organizing committee.”
The song “Glory to Hong Kong,” written by an anonymous composer in 2019, urges residents to strive for freedom and democracy despite adversity.
It became a rallying cry during the huge and sometimes violent protests but has since been declared effectively illegal by Hong Kong authorities.
In 2020, the city passed a law that criminalized insults to the Chinese national anthem with up to three years in jail and a maximum HK$50,000 ($6,400) fine.
Unlike the national security legislation, that law does not claim universal jurisdiction.
Courts jailed the first person under the anthem law last week.