Hong Kong police arrest man who played harmonica at Queen's vigil on suspicion of sedition

Police arrest a man who played songs on a harmonica outside the British consulate in Hong Kong on September 19, 2022.
A man was arrested
in Hong Kong on suspicion of sedition after playing the harmonica at a vigil
for Queen Elizabeth II, under a colonial-era law that once outlawed
insulting the Queen -- and has now been revived by authorities amid an ongoing
crackdown.
Videos posted to
social media show hundreds of people gathering outside the city's British
consulate on Monday night to pay tribute to the Queen, as her funeral took
place in London -- an event heavy with political significance in the former
British colony, where mourning the monarch has become a subtle form of
protest.
Many live-streamed
the funeral procession on their phones, while others held up candles and laid
flowers at a memorial site.
One video shows a
man playing on his harmonica the tune "Glory to Hong Kong," a protest
anthem created during the depths of the pro-democracy, anti-government
protests that rocked the city in 2019.
The rousing ballad,
which includes such lyrics as "For Hong Kong, may freedom reign,"
became an anthem of the pro-democracy movement and performances of it
have been viewed millions of times on YouTube.
At the vigil on
Tuesday, crowds waved iPhone flashlights in the dark and sang along to the
harmonica, some starting a chant that has also become synonymous with the
protests: "Hong Kong, add oil."
Photos then show
police officers arriving and escorting the man into their van.
When CNN asked
police about the harmonica player, they responded by saying a 43-year-old man
surnamed Pang had been arrested that night at around 9:30 p.m. He was suspected
of committing acts of sedition, and was detained for questioning -- then
released on bail pending investigation, police said.
He will be required
to report back to the police in late November.
Hong Kong's sedition
law is part of a 1938 Crimes Ordinance, once used by the colonial government to
target pro-China groups and publications -- especially after the Chinese
Communist Party came to power, and during anti-government protests in 1967.
It originally
defined sedition as speech that brought "hatred or contempt" against
the Queen, her heirs, or the Hong Kong government.
The law had remained
unused for decades until it was revived in 2020 -- alongside Beijing's
introduction of a sweeping national security law, which targets
secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist activities.
A conviction under
the sedition law carries a maximum two-year sentence.
The revival of the
law -- and its use amid a broader crackdown by Hong Kong and Beijing authorities
-- has drawn criticism from activists and humanitarian organizations around the
world.
In July, the UN's
Human Rights Committee urged Hong Kong to repeal the sedition law, saying it
was concerned it could limit citizens' "legitimate right to freedom of
speech."
The Hong Kong
government has repeatedly denied that the sedition law or national security law
-- which has been used to arrest activists, journalists, protesters and former
elected lawmakers -- pose any risk to people's freedoms.
The sedition law
"is not meant to silence the expression of any opinion that is only genuine
criticism against the government based on objective facts," it said in
response to the UN, adding that the national security law "has swiftly and
effectively restored stability and security" after the 2019 protests.
The crackdown has
seen the steady erosion of civil liberties in what was once a free-wheeling
city with an independent press and rich protest culture.
Most pro-democracy
groups have disbanded, their leaders either imprisoned or forced into exile,
and mass demonstrations are all but banned.
Without traditional
avenues of protest -- people have now been arrested for social media posts and
even for publishing children's books deemed seditious -- the Queen's
death emerged this month as an unexpected opportunity for dissent.
In celebrating the
monarchy and its symbols, some Hong Kongers see an opportunity for a veiled dig
at both the Chinese Communist Party, which has made no secret of its eagerness
for Hong Kongers to forget the era, and local authorities who recently
introduced school books that claim the city was never even a colony, to begin
with.
A retiree named
Wing, who spoke to CNN outside the consulate on Monday but declined to give his
full name, said it was "incredible" to be part of a mass gathering
again.
"I feel angry
that the Hong Kong government is not showing any respect properly (to the
Queen). They're scared of the Chinese government telling them off, but we were
part of the colony," said Wing, who was born in the 1960s.
The displays of
affection are also a reminder of the city's pro-democracy protests, during
which demonstrators adopted the colonial flag as a sign of resistance to
Chinese one-party rule.
However, other critics
have pointed out that even under British rule, Hong Kongers did not have
universal suffrage. And many felt London neglected its duty by failing to grant
British citizenship to Hong Kongers at the time of the handover, instead
offering most a limited passport that did not give them the right to live and
work in Britain.
Since the
introduction of the national security law, Britain has created what it calls a
path to citizenship via a new type of visa.
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