A statue commemorating pro-democracy protesters killed during China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 has been dismantled and removed from a prominent Hong Kong university’s campus site.
The artwork, which depicts anguished human torsos, is one of the few remaining public memorials in the former British colony to commemorate the bloody crackdown, which is a taboo topic in mainland China, where it cannot be commemorated publicly.
The “Pillar of Shame,” as it was known, was a key symbol of Hong Kong’s wide-ranging freedoms promised upon its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
To commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the city has traditionally held the world’s largest annual vigils.
In an early Thursday statement, the Council of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) said it decided to remove the statue during a Wednesday meeting “based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the University.”
“The HKU Council has requested that the statue be stored and that the University continue to seek legal advice on any appropriate follow-up action,” the statement read.
Security guards erected yellow barricades around the eight-meter (26-foot) high, two-tonne copper sculpture late Wednesday night.
Hundreds of workers in yellow hard hats entered the statue site, which was draped on all sides with white plastic sheeting and guarded by dozens of security personnel, according to two Reuters journalists.
Workmen were seen carrying out the top half of the statue and winching it up on a crane towards a waiting shipping container after several hours of loud noises from power tools and chains emanated from the closed-off area.
The container was later driven away early on Thursday by a truck. The statue’s location was encircled by yellow barricades and covered in white plastic sheets. Later, university staff surrounded the barricades with pots of Poinsettia flowers, a popular Christmas decoration in Hong Kong.
The university had sent a legal letter to the statue’s custodians several months ago, requesting that it be removed.
The statue’s creator, Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, said in a statement that he was “completely shocked” and that he would “claim compensation for any damage” to his private property.
Galschiot had offered to take the statue back to Denmark for $1.4 million, but he said his presence in Hong Kong was necessary for the complex operation to go smoothly, and he asked for assurances that he would not be prosecuted.
In a statement, HKU stated that no party had ever received permission to display the statue on its campus and that it had the right to take “appropriate actions” at any time. The statue was also described as “fragile” and as posing “potential safety issues,” according to the report.
With students on vacation, the campus was quiet early on Thursday. After hearing the news, some students stayed overnight on campus.
“To do this at midnight, the university is a coward,” said Chan, a 19-year-old student. “I’m very disappointed because it’s a historical symbol.”
Another student, Leung, expressed his “heartbreak” at seeing the statue “cut into pieces.”
The statue’s removal is the most recent action taken against people or organisations associated with the sensitive June 4, 1989, date and events commemorating it.
Authorities in Hong Kong have been cracking down on civil society, jailing democracy activists, and restricting basic freedoms under a national security law imposed by China, according to human rights activists.
After massive street protests in 2019, authorities claim that the law has restored order and stability. They claim that freedom of speech and other rights are unaffected, and that the prosecutions are not motivated by politics.
China has never given a complete account of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Officials put the death toll at around 300, but rights groups and witnesses say it could be thousands.
“What the Communist Party really wants is for us to forget about it (Tiananmen). It’s a terrible pity “According to Reuters, John Burns, a political scientist at the university for over 40 years who has advocated for the statue’s preservation,
“They want it to be forgotten on a global scale.”
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