diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils.js.es6 b/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils.js.es6
index 0ee29a75c622fba61d020b0cfb307f6161e89b8f..1f735e133912058d2e36d4be1067d6cc4278d068 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils.js.es6
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils.js.es6
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@
       var hash = w.gl.utils.getLocationHash();
       if (!hash) return;
 
+      // This is required to handle non-unicode characters in hash
+      hash = decodeURIComponent(hash);
+
       var navbar = document.querySelector('.navbar-gitlab');
       var subnav = document.querySelector('.layout-nav');
       var fixedTabs = document.querySelector('.js-tabs-affix');
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/fix-anchor-scrolling.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/fix-anchor-scrolling.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..43b3b9bf96e14230b5779de9cdf0881be61c123d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/fix-anchor-scrolling.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Fix broken anchor links when special characters are used
+merge_request: 8961
+author: Andrey Krivko
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils_spec.js.es6 b/spec/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils_spec.js.es6
index fbb06f3948b752bebe556bee925113df92c20c51..ff70664546d4805a576c6a13f50f973d20116bfb 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils_spec.js.es6
+++ b/spec/javascripts/lib/utils/common_utils_spec.js.es6
@@ -41,6 +41,19 @@ require('~/lib/utils/common_utils');
       });
     });
 
+    describe('gl.utils.handleLocationHash', () => {
+      beforeEach(() => {
+        window.history.pushState({}, null, '#definição');
+      });
+
+      it('decodes hash parameter', () => {
+        spyOn(window.document, 'getElementById').and.callThrough();
+        gl.utils.handleLocationHash();
+        expect(window.document.getElementById).toHaveBeenCalledWith('definição');
+        expect(window.document.getElementById).toHaveBeenCalledWith('user-content-definição');
+      });
+    });
+
     describe('gl.utils.getParameterByName', () => {
       beforeEach(() => {
         window.history.pushState({}, null, '?scope=all&p=2');