Hong Kong’s Legislative Council apologises for mistake that left Chinese national flag flying upside down for nearly two hours
- National flag displayed upside down outside Legco, an act specified as illegal under tougher laws set to come into force next year
- Legco officials say they are probing the incident and reviewing procedures to ensure it never happens again
Officials at the Hong Kong legislature have apologised for mistakenly flying the national flag upside down for almost two hours on Thursday, pledging to investigate the error and review procedures to avoid a repeat.
The Legislative Council bungle emerged after Beijing introduced in October stricter legislation that would make displaying China’s national flag the wrong way around a criminal offence.
Legco’s secretariat said the mistake was discovered in the morning, after the national and regional banners were raised outside the legislative complex in Admiralty, a ceremony performed daily at 8am.
“After learning that the national flag at Legco Square had been flying upside down, the secretariat immediately raised it properly at 9.54am. The secretariat sincerely apologises for the mistake,” it said.
It said a detailed investigation into the incident was under way and the office would follow up in accordance with its human resources policies.
“The secretariat has also immediately reviewed and improved the procedures of flag raising to avoid a recurrence of the mistake in future,” it added.
The city’s current flag law stipulates that a person who desecrates the national flag or national emblem by publicly and wilfully burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling or trampling it commits an offence punishable by a fine of up to HK$50,000 and three years in jail.