Hong Kong football fan, 19, convicted of insulting national anthem

A 19-year-old Hong Kong football fan has been convicted of insulting the national anthem by turning his back to the pitch when the song was played at a 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier match last year.

Eastern Court on Wednesday found defendant Lau Pun-hei’s conduct at Hong Kong Stadium was punishable by a catch-all clause of the National Anthem Ordinance, adding that it amounted to undermining the dignity of “March of the Volunteers” as a symbol and sign of the People’s Republic of China.
Lau, a second-year political science student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was among three spectators arrested for an alleged violation of the 2020 ordinance during the contest between the city’s team and Iran on June 6, 2024.

The trial earlier this year heard that police pulled the student aside at half-time after reviewing video footage and found he had turned away from the pitch and players and lowered his head while the national anthem was playing.

Police Superintendent Sean Lin, who videotaped the spectators’ stand that night, said Lau had stood normally with his head facing forward when Iran’s national anthem was played moments earlier.

The ordinance states that a person commits an offence if he or she publicly and intentionally insults the national anthem “in any way”.

Prosecutors argued the defendant’s conduct fell under that wide definition, warning it could attract copycat behaviour and undermine Hong Kong’s image as a mega-event capital.

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