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Oliver Ma outside Eastern Court after his acquittal on Wednesday. Photo: Brian Wong

Hong Kong busker arrested while playing protest song cleared of Covid-19 social-distancing offence

  • Court rules prosecution’s evidence is too ‘subjective and vague’ to support conviction
  • Oliver Ma, 23, was arrested in May 2021 after officers received noise complaint
Brian Wong
A busker arrested by police after playing the anti-government song “Glory to Hong Kong” has been acquitted of a Covid-19 social-distancing offence, as a court ruled the prosecution’s evidence was too “subjective and vague” to support a conviction.
But Oliver Ma Fu-chi said after Wednesday’s ruling that he might no longer perform the song widely regarded as the unofficial anthem for the 2019 anti-government movement.

“Would I be performing the song again? At this time, probably not,” Ma told reporters outside Eastern Court. “But it was really nice to have had a chance to sing it.”

A screengrab showing police confronting busker Oliver Ma. Photo: YouTube

The 24-year-old was arrested in May 2021 after officers received a noise complaint from a junction in Central near the Lan Kwai Fong entertainment district. He was placed under police bail until November that year, when police decided not to charge him.

Police instead filed a summons accusing him of organising a public gathering exceeding a limit of four people under the now-defunct Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Gathering) Regulation enacted during the pandemic in 2020.

A police constable said during the trial he had seen Ma playing music that night in front of about 30 to 40 people, who applauded and videotaped his performances.

Video footage played in court showed Ma performing the anti-government song, with police warning that he might have violated Hong Kong law and disrupted public order.

Hong Kong police arrest man for playing protest song near British consulate

The song, written during the 2019 protests against a now-withdrawn extradition bill, urges people to “Liberate Hong Kong” in a “revolution of our times”.

The officer said he arrested Ma because he felt the busker had inflamed people’s emotions.

But the witness was unable to confirm details about the alleged incident, including a rough estimate of the distance between spectators.

During the cross-examination, he said he was unsure whether anyone was taping the defendant’s performances when other police officers arrived at the scene.

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Magistrate Minnie Wat Lai-man on Wednesday said Ma had drawn suspicion upon himself, as he failed to produce any permit for playing musical instruments in public and ignored police warnings.

But Wat found a reasonable doubt regarding the accuracy of the constable’s observations.

“The court has doubts as to whether [the officer]’s evidence was reliable as he appeared to have a rather uncertain recollection of what happened at the material time,” she said.

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Ma said after the ruling that he only played the protest song in defence when police “interrogated” him in the past. He added he had stopped performing the tune regularly after the protests died down.

Ma is not the only street performer who landed in court after playing the song. Erhu player Li Jiexin, 69, was charged in three cases over playing the anti-government tune in public in 2021 and 2022. He was acquitted in one case but is still undergoing trial in the other proceedings.

The legality of “Glory to Hong Kong” took centre stage during the first trial under the National Anthem Ordinance, which concerned a remix video showing a city athlete being presented with an Olympic gold medal against the backdrop of the protest song.

The same magistrate is expected to deliver her ruling in that case on Thursday.

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