But last night the government sought an urgent High Court injunction to stop the station's five representatives from going back on the air before a higher court had heard an appeal against the ruling, made by magistrate Douglas Yau Tak-hong in Eastern Court.

Mr Yau had found that certain parts of the Telecommunications Ordinance that granted 'unfettered and unchecked' power over the airwaves to the chief executive violated constitutional rights to free speech and expression. As such, the law under which legislator Leung 'Long Hair' Kwok-hung, station convenor Tsang Kin-shing and three other men had been charged with making illegal broadcasts, could not stand.

Although he ruled the law was unconstitutional, Mr Yau suspended the ruling from coming into effect until after a higher court had heard a government appeal.

Jat Sew Tong, for the government, described the power of suspension as an emergency measure to be used in exceptional circumstances when a ruling created a legal vacuum. He said Hong Kong was not like other cities, where certain parts of the radio spectrum were reserved for certain players by law. The licensing system was the means by which the entire spectrum was regulated. Striking it down would create a 'free-for-all'.

'[Citizen's Radio] have said they intend to start again tomorrow,' Mr Jat said. 'If they can do that then anyone can do it. That is the difference between now and before the ruling.'

He said there was a possibility that with nothing restraining people from using the airwaves as they wished, emergency services and other essential or sensitive frequencies could find themselves jammed. 'Imagine if there was no licensing arrangement,' Mr Jat said. 'It would mean that anyone could start [broadcasting] on any frequency and there would be no restriction. It would be chaos.'

Mr Leung said there was no need to take out an injunction against himself and his four co-defendants.

'We don't object to taking the matter to a higher court, but to seek an injunction is unreasonable and unnecessary.' He said that with the suspension in place, authorities were already free to arrest them if they violated the licensing law again.

'What they are trying to do is an abuse of power because they are trying to trap us into committing an even more serious offence, namely contempt of court.'

Counsel for Mr Leung, Hectar Pun Hei, said that by seeking the injunction, the government was trying to trample on the rights of his clients.

'This application is wholly exceptional and extraordinary in that the government is seeking to injunct a group of people from exercising constitutional rights,' Mr Pun said, noting that if the judge awarded the injunction, then any broadcast would be in contempt of court and land his clients in deep trouble regardless of whether or not what they did was protected by the constitution.

Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah adjourned the case until 11am today. Meanwhile, the director of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, Marion Lai Chan Chi-kuen, said it was too early to tell whether the ordinance would be reviewed.