29.03.2024

Hong Kong schools ban protest anthem as China sets up new security office

New security legislation imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing requires the Asian financial hub to “promote national security education in schools and universities and through social organisations, the media, the Internet”.

Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday banned school students from singing ‘Glory to Hong Kong’, the unofficial anthem of the pro-democracy protest movement, just hours after Beijing set up its new national security bureau in the city.

The school anthem ban will further stoke concerns that new security laws will crush freedoms in the city, days after public libraries removed books by some prominent pro-democracy figures from their shelves.

Authorities also banned protest slogans as the new laws came into force last week.

The sweeping legislation that Beijing imposed on the former British colony punishes what China defines as secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with up to life in prison.

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