HONG KONG - A Hong Konger who played a harmonica to a crowd outside the British consulate during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday was arrested for sedition, police and local media said on Tuesday. 

Hundreds gathered outside the consulate on Monday evening as Britain was holding a state funeral, sharing livestreams on phones as well as laying candles and flowers.

At one point, a man started to play songs on a harmonica, according to an AFP reporter on the scene, including the British national anthem and “Glory To Hong Kong”, a popular song during huge, often violent pro-democracy protests three years ago.

The mourners outside the consulate applauded the performance and shone their phone lights, with many later shouting the protest chant “Hong Kongers, add oil” and singing “Glory To Hong Kong”.

Local reporters later photographed the harmonica player being questioned by police and detained.

On Tuesday, police said a 43-year-old man surnamed Pang was arrested outside the consulate for “seditious acts”.

A police source confirmed to AFP that the man arrested was the harmonica player.

In the week since Queen Elizabeth's death, more than 13,000 people have signed a condolence book in the city’s British consulate. Hong Kongers have been lining up for hours to sign the condolence book and leave flowers on the sidewalk. Some have waved British flags and posted signs reading "I love Hong Kong".

The consulate said earlier on Twitter that it was extending its opening hours because wait times could be more than three hours. It warned people to wear clothing appropriate for the hot weather.

The consulate did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the arrest.

Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years before the financial hub was returned to China in 1997.

Social media users in China have been critical of expressions of condolences for the Queen. One target of their ire was Hong Kong actress Carina Lau, who posted messages of condolences on social media platforms.

One person asked on the Twitter-like Weibo service whether it was Chinese to be sad about the Queen's death.

Hong Kong Cantonese opera star Law Kar Ying apologised on Weibo and declared himself a patriot after he was attacked on Weibo for praising the Queen.

The 1938 Crimes Ordinance under which the 43-year-old man was arrested defines sedition as speech or publications bringing hate or contempt to "Her Majesty, her heirs or successors" or the government.

The authorities in Hong Kong have arrested at least 60 people under the law since September 2020 as part of a crackdown on dissent that has sent scores of journalists, politicians and civil society figures to prison.

The sedition law was ignored for decades but the city has been using it in tandem with national security legislation Beijing imposed on the city in 2020.

Beijing defends the changes it has made in Hong Kong, including a revamp of the electoral system to ensure only loyalists can govern, as necessary to restore order and economic progress.

The song “Glory to Hong Kong” contains the popular protest chant “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” which has been declared by the courts to be a threat to national security.

A man in his 60s was charged earlier this year for performing without a license after playing the song on his er-hu, a Chinese two-stringed instrument, at a bus terminus.

Oliver Ma, a Filipino-Hong Kong busker, was arrested three times in 2020 and 2021 when singing the English version of the protest song on Hong Kong streets. BLOOMBERG, AFP