Hong Kong University orders removal of Tiananmen Square massacre statue
The University of Hong Kong has ordered the removal of a statue commemorating protesters killed in China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The 8-metre-high (26ft) copper statue was the centrepiece of Hong Kong’s candlelit vigils on 4 June to commemorate those killed when Chinese troops backed by tanks opened fire on unarmed pro-democracy campaigners in Beijing.
The statue, called the Pillar of Shame, shows 50 anguished faces and tortured bodies piled on one another, and has been on display at Hong Kong’s oldest university for more than two decades.
The decision was blasted by the statue’s Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt, who said its removal illustrated the ongoing purge of dissent in the once outspoken and semi-autonomous business hub.
In a legal letter to the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance (HKA) â€" the organiser of the city’s huge annual Tiananmen vigil â€" the university demanded the group “immediately … make arrangements for the sculpture to be removed from the university’s premises†by 5pm on 13 October.
“If you fail to remove the sculpture … it will be deemed abandoned,†the letter said.
It added that the university will deal with the statue in a manner it sees fit without further notice.
Richard Tsoi, a former member of HKA’s standing committee, said the university’s request was “unreasonable†and he has asked its chancellor to keep the statue.
“As a space with free speech and academic freedom, the University of Hong Kong has the social responsibility and mission to preserve the Pillar of Shame,†Tsoi said.
Galschiøt said he was “shocked if there were plans to desecrate the only memorial to such a consequential and important event in Chinese historyâ€.
“I wish that the Pillar stays in Hong Kong, at the same place as it stands today. That would be historically correct. The pillar is an important artwork that has a historic link to Hong Kong and should stay on Chinese land,†he said.
The university said its request was “based on the latest risk assessment and legal adviceâ€.
Groups and venues linked to the commemoration of the 4 June massacre have become the latest target of a sweeping national security law that China imposed on the city last year to quash dissent after huge and often violent democracy protests.
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