In Hong Kong, a partially democratic Asian metropolis part of communist China, a statue devoted to the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre has been taken down and removed, British news portal The Guardian reports.
The move was carried out on Wednesday, December 22. It has prompted criticism of the Hong Kong University, where it stood and the Hong Kong authorities, with academics and experts saying the removal of the sculpture was an attempt at «rewriting history».
The 8-metre-tall Pillar of Shame by the Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt was one of the few remaining public memorials in the territory commemorating the bloody crackdown that is a taboo topic in mainland China, where it cannot be publicly marked. It had sat on the University of Hong Kong campus since 1997, the year the UK handed the city back to China.
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Late on Wednesday, university staff used floor-to-ceiling sheets and plastic barriers to shield the statue from view, according to witnesses at the scene. Loud noises from power tools and chains emanated from the closed-off area for several hours before workmen were seen carrying out the top half of the statue and winching it up on a crane towards a waiting shipping container.
The statue’s removal came shortly after a decision made by the leadership of the University of Hong Kong leadership council on Wednesday, it said in a statement. «The decision on the aged statue was based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university,» The Guardian quoted the statement by the university’s council.
Hong Kong removes statue devoted to Tiananmen Square Massacre
