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Erhu player jailed for over 2 weeks for performing banned protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’
- Retiree Li Jiexin, 71, pleads guilty to charges of performing anti-government tune inside pedestrian tunnels and outside MTR stations last year
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An elderly erhu player has been jailed for more than two weeks and had his instruments confiscated over what a court held was “obstinate” insistence on publicly performing the banned 2019 protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”.
Retiree Li Jiexin, 71, pleaded guilty at West Kowloon Court on Tuesday to eight charges for his unauthorised performances of the anti-government tune inside pedestrian tunnels and outside MTR stations in September and October last year.
The offences took place before the Court of Appeal prohibited the circulation of the song in May this year. The move was deemed necessary to safeguard the nation’s interests as required by the Beijing-imposed national security law.
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Li became the subject of a “pre-emptive” investigation by police’s national security department, the court heard, with officers monitoring his movements and covertly filming his street shows using mobile phones provided by the government.
He was arrested for alleged sedition after officers spotted him playing the protest song at five locations across Kowloon and the New Territories in eight days.
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But the elderly man insisted the tune he played was either “Peace to Hong Kong”, a spoof rendition of the protest song by a self-styled pro-Beijing group, or the non-existent “Glory to Carrie Lam”, a reference to the city’s former chief executive.
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