Top Hong Kong court upholds emergency protest mask ban

Gulf Today Report

Hong Kong’s highest court on Monday ruled the city’s government had the right to invoke colonial-era emergency powers last year to ban face masks at protests. It was both proportionate and legal.

The ruling is a blow for democracy supporters who had been hoping the Court of Final Appeal would side with a lower court and overturn the order.

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During the anti-government protests which have largely died down, many demonstrators wore masks to hide their identities from authorities and to protect themselves from tear gas.

It also confirms that Hong Kong's chief executive — a pro-Beijing appointee — has the power to enact any law in a time of public emergency without needing the approval of the city's partially-elected legislature.

Surgical masks have also long been common in the financial hub for when people are sick and the ruling comes at a time when Hong Kong people are mandated to wear masks to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Pro-democracy lawmakers join hands at the start of a press conference in Hong Kong. File/AFP

Hong Kong was convulsed by seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests last year.

They were eventually quashed by mass arrests, a coronavirus ban on public gatherings and Beijing imposing a new national security law on the city in June.

Opposition lawmakers challenged both the use of that emergency law and the ban on wearing masks at permitted rallies.

Joshua Wong, 24, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy activists, was arrested for allegedly breaching the anti mask law and his participation in an unlawful anti-government rallies in 2019.

Opposition lawmakers and activists in the former British colony lodged a judicial review on the anti-mask law last year.