Police were alerted to a national security alarm which turned out to be old anti-fugitive bill slogans spray-painted near the Wong Tai Sin Temple and Wong Tai Sin MTR Station in 2019 that had peeled off.

Sources said that preliminary police investigation showed the slogans have existed since 2019 but resurfaced after the paint covering them had recently peeled off and yesterday's incident was not suspicious.

Police received a report at around 8am about the spray-painted slogans on the ground of the open space between Wong Tai Sin Temple and the MTR station.

Officers saw multiple slogans written, including "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times," which was popular among protesters during the social unrest in 2019.

The spray-painted slogans spanned an area of 30 meters by half a meter. Officers immediately cordoned off the area and found rubbish bags to cover up the slogans after failing to erase the paint off the floor.

The officers later found more spray-painted slogans at two locations nearby.

One of the slogans in Chinese directly translates as "Taiwanese, nice."

Police listed the case as "criminal damage" and no one has been arrested so far. But sources said it was a false alarm.

On July 2, 2020, the administration declared that the slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" connotes "Hong Kong independence," or separating the SAR from China, altering the legal status of the Hong Kong SAR or subverting the state power.

It was declared after a protest where participants displayed or possessed items bearing the words the day before July 1, which was also the first day of the national security law imposed by China coming into effect.

During the protest, then 24-year-old activist Tong Ying-kit rode a motorcycle displaying a protest flag with the slogan printed on it and assaulted three policemen.

Tong became the first person charged under the national security law. High Court judges Esther Toh Lye-ping, Anthea Pang Po-kam and Wilson Chan Ka-shun ruled the slogan as carrying a secessionist meaning in handing down Tong's verdict in 2021.

Tong was convicted of committing incitement to secession and terrorist activities and was sentenced to nine-year imprisonment.

The spray-painted slogans are covered with plastic as police investigate. SING TAO

Alarm over 'old' unrest graffiti at temple area