LI NETWORK
The apex court of Hong Kong ordered that the city’s government had the right to invoke emergency powers of the colonial era to ban the wearing of masks at all public processions during 2019’s protests.
While ruling in favour of the government, the Court of Final Appeal went even further than a lower-court ruling.
Earlier, the lower court had held the mask ban to be unconstitutional. It also said that the government had the right to impose emergency measures.
The top court said that it was constitutionally sound for the government to invoke the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to impose such a ban.
Many demonstrators would wear masks for hiding their identities from authorities and protecting themselves from tear gas.
The ruling comes when Hong Kong people are mandated to wear masks to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Last year, the opposition lawmakers and activists in Hong Kong filed a judicial review on the anti-mask law.
Joshua Wong, 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 rally in 2019.
The apex court’s decision ends the controversy regarding the government’s move to quell anti-government protests by invoking the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance (ERO) on October 5 to prohibit face coverings at any demonstrations.
The Court of First Instance, last year, had ruled that the use of the ERO on the grounds of “public danger” was unconstitutional.
But in April, the Court of Appeal reversed part of the lower court’s ruling.
It observed that though it would be valid for the government to enforce it at unauthorised or illegal assemblies, it would be unconstitutional for the ban to be imposed on legal demonstrations.