The High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) granted an interim injunction on Thursday to restrain people from disseminating online information that encourages violence, the HKSAR government's Department of Justice said.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said the Secretary for Justice as guardian of the public interest applied to the court for the injunction on Thursday.
These acts include willfully disseminating, circulating, publishing or re-publishing on any internet-based platform or medium (including but not limited to LIHKG and Telegram) any material or information that promotes, encourages or incites the use or threat of violence, intended or likely to cause bodily injury to any person or damage to any property unlawfully within Hong Kong.
The injunction also applies to anyone considered to be assisting, causing, counselling, procuring, instigating, inciting, aiding, abetting or authorizing others to commit or participate in any of the aforesaid acts.
Since June, there have been numerous instances of violent protests and vandalizing acts in Hong Kong, including criminal damage to property, assaults of the person, riots and arson.
Fire burns at an entrance to Mong Kok MTR Station during protests in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, October 27, 2019. /Reuters Photo
The anonymous and instantaneous nature in communication and the accessibility of these platforms have been abused by some to incite protesters to participate in unlawful activities, to promote the use of weapons and mobilize protesters to damage targeted properties and injure targeted individuals, in particular police officers, said the spokesperson.
Such acts have seriously breached public peace, and posed a grave and genuine danger to the police and members of the public, he added.
The interim injunction will remain in force until November 15, 2019.
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