Hong Kong's High Court rules anti-mask law 'unconstitutional'

Hong Kong's anti-mask law has been ruled "unconstitutional" by the city's High Court.

Students wear Guy Fawkes masks, popularised by the 'V For Vendetta' comic book film, before their graduation ceremony at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Students wear Guy Fawkes masks, popularised by the 'V For Vendetta' comic book film, before their graduation ceremony at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Source: AFP

A government ban on demonstrators wearing face masks, aimed at helping to quell months of pro-democracy unrest in Hong Kong, is unconstitutional, the territory's high court ruled Monday.

"The restrictions it imposes on fundamental rights... go further than is reasonably necessary... and therefore fail to meet the proportionality test," the court said, according to a press summary.

The ban on face-covering came into force in October, when the city's unelected pro-Beijing leader invoked colonial-era legislation for the first time in more than 50 years.

The move was seen as a watershed legal moment for the city since its 1997 return by Britain to China - but has been largely symbolic.

Demonstrators - most of them wearing masks - have continued to clash with police, often violently, as they press their demands for greater democracy for Hong Kong, as well as an independent inquiry into alleged brutality by the increasingly unpopular police force.


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Published 18 November 2019 4:19pm
Updated 18 November 2019 5:32pm


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