HONG KONG’S LEGISLATURE has voted for a Beijing-backed law banning insults to China’s national anthem.

Lawmakers approved the bill with 41 in favour and one against, but the 75-seat chamber’s pro-democracy faction refused to vote and instead shouted slogans denouncing the law.

Today marks the 31st anniversary of China sending tanks and troops to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Protesters have defied a coronavirus ban against a mass vigil commemorating the anniversary of China’s Tiananmen crackdown to enter a landmark city park.

Around one hundred people entered Victoria Park after surrounding barriers were toppled, and began massing on football pitches inside, chanting slogans while holding candles.

Opponents to the ban on insults to China’s national anthem rallied around the symbolism of the timing. One lawmaker threw a foul-smelling liquid on the legislature’s floor in a bid to halt proceedings.

Others gave impassioned speeches denouncing the law, which carries up to three years in prison and fines for anyone who insults the “March of the Volunteers”. 

“If you want people to respect the national anthem, I’m afraid you have chosen the wrong approach, it is counter-productive,” pro-democracy lawmaker Wu Chi-wai said during the debate.

Wu quoted the first line of the anthem, a revolutionary call to arms that declares: “Arise ye who refuse to be slaves.” 

Hong Kong’s government has rejected the idea the anthem law restricts political freedoms, saying many other nations have similar laws.

“Some people said this is a vicious law and will suppress our freedom of speech. That does not exist at all,” Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Minister Erick Tsang told reporters after the vote. 

He said people would only be prosecuted if they “openly and deliberately” insulted the anthem.

- © AFP 2020.