Hong Kong police hunt two suspects after bomb explodes outside legislative council

Suspects in surgical masks seen igniting objects in rubbish bin before fleeing after debate on a copyright bill was cancelled

In Hong Kong, copyright owners can contractually prohibit parody, satire and caricature of their work (AFP/Getty Images)

A homemade bomb exploded outside Hong Kong’s legislative council last night, after a debate over a controversial copyright bill was cancelled.

Police are hunting two suspects seen in surgical masks igniting objects in a rubbish bin before fleeing the scene, the South China Morning Post reported. A Youtube video of the explosion appeared soon afterwards.

A “burnt can of compressed gas” was found, the Legislative Council said in a statement, as chairman Jasper Tsang urged police to “arrest the culprits and bring them to justice”. No-one was injured.

A 5,000-strong protest in the area against Hong Kong’s Copyright Amendment Bill had been cancelled after too few lawmakers turned up to the official debate in the Legislative Council, according to Quartz.

The bill would extend copyright protection to the internet, prompting concerns that making and spreading online remixes, parodies and other derivative content would become a criminal offence. In Hong Kong, copyright owners can contractually prohibit parody, satire and caricature of their work.

Internet freedom groups and lawmakers have launched a petition, the Hong Kong Free Press reported, to demand a “fair use” amendment and protection for internet users from traditional copyright laws. A filibuster by Raymond Wong Yuk-man to halt the bill by requesting 900 amendments is being planned.

The controversial bill has been dubbed Internet Article 23 after Hong Kong’s Basic Law Article 23, a heavily criticised security law which allows the government to “enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion” against the state.

But Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung told the Hong Kong Free Press , “the Copyright (Amendment) Bill will not restrict any freedom of speech, [the government] is doing the related work in accordance with the international standard”.