The University of Hong Kong dismantled a sculpture on its campus on Wednesday evening, Dec. 22, to commemorate the victims of the bloody crackdown on the Democratic movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. The eight-meter “Pillar of Shame” by the Danish sculptor Jens Galskiet was removed from the pedestal and taken away. The territory was cordoned off, journalists were not allowed to approach the statue and film what was happening.
The sculpture depicts 50 bodies, which symbolize those killed during the government repression. It has stood on the campus of the University of Hong Kong since 1997, when Hong Kong returned to the jurisdiction of China after a 99-year lease of the territory by the UK. In October 2021, the university ordered the removal of the statue.
Harsh criticism from adherents of democracy
Democracy supporters have sharply criticized the demolition of the memorial. The demolition of the statue also sparked outrage on the part of its author, who had already sent a written request to the University of Hong Kong to confirm his ownership, but it was ignored. “We did our best to convey to the University of Hong Kong that we would like to collect the sculpture and bring it to Denmark,” Galskiyot said in Copenhagen.
According to the sculptor, the statue was loaned by him to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which had to dissolve in connection with the introduction of the repressive National Security Protection Law in Hong Kong in June 2020. Galskiyot intends to sue the University of Hong Kong.
The only place in China where victims of repression were commemorated
For more than two decades, Hong Kong has been the only place in China where the authorities have been tolerant of candlelight mourning events in memory of the victims in Tiananmen Square. However, the “Pillar of Cold” has long annoyed the leadership of the PRC, which is against preserving any memory of the authorities’ actions to forcefully suppress the democratic movement in the country. As explained at the university itself, they decided to remove the statue because it is “fragile” and threatens the safety of students.
Chinese authorities brutally suppressed a democratic protest rally involving tens of thousands of protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. They even used tanks against them. Although no one was killed in the square itself, there were hundreds of victims in other parts of the city, according to human rights organization Amnesty International.
With the passage of the Hong Kong National Security Protection Act a year and a half ago, the Chinese government has virtually eliminated the opposition movement in the metropolis of seven million. The vague language of the law makes it easier to prosecute any activity that China considers subversive, separatist, terrorist, or conspiratorial. In fact, this law is directed against critics of the Hong Kong government and the leadership in Beijing.
See also:
.