Hong Kong soccer fans jeer national anthem despite tough new mainland laws
Heavy police presence seemingly had little effect as many fans booed and swore during anthem before friendly match against Bahrain on Thursday
Hardcore Hong Kong soccer fans booed and swore when the national anthem was played at the start of a friendly match against Bahrain on Thursday, openly displaying their contempt after China’s top legislature set the stage for the city to make such behaviour punishable by law.
Ignoring a heavy police presence, a small group of fans jeered as the familiar strains of March of the Volunteers rang out across Mong Kok Stadium, and some turned their backs to the pitch.
“I don’t care [about the law],” said an 18-year-old fan who was among the hecklers. “So what? There are thousands of people at the stadium, how will they find me and arrest me?”
“I don’t think the anthem represents Hong Kong,” said another spectator who had brought his five-year-old son to the game. “I don’t care if they arrest me. I just do what I think is right. I will continue to boo. If they have guts, they can arrest all of us.”
The match was closely watched as it was the first in the city after the National People’s Congress Standing Committee last weekend incorporated the mainland’s newly toughened National Anthem law into Annexe 3 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
The Hong Kong government is now required to come up with local legislation to prevent abuse of the anthem, which is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment on the mainland.
