Pillar of Shame removed in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s oldest university launched an overnight operation on Thursday to dismantle a statue commemorating those killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The Pillar of Shame has been removed from the grounds of the University of Hong Kong. Picture: AFP

Hong Kong’s oldest university launched an overnight operation on Thursday to dismantle a statue commemorating those killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in the latest blow to academic freedoms as China cracks down.

The 8m-high Pillar of Shame by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot has sat on the University of Hong Kong’s campus since 1997, the year the former British colony was handed back to China.

The sculpture features 50 anguished faces and tortured bodies piled on one another and commemorates democracy protesters killed by Chinese troops around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Its presence was a vivid illustration of Hong Kong’s freedoms compared to the Chinese mainland where the events at Tiananmen are heavily censored.

But Beijing is remoulding Hong Kong in its own authoritarian image after democracy protests two years ago and commemorating Tiananmen has become effectively illegal.

In October, university officials ordered the removal of the sculpture citing new but unspecified legal risks. They made good on that promise in the early hours of Thursday.

University staff used floor-to-ceiling sheets and plastic barriers to shield the statue from view as sounds of drilling and metal clanging could be heard throughout the night. Security guards blocked journalists from getting close and tried to stop media outlets filming.

The Pillar of Shame stood in the grounds of the University of Hong Kong until Thursday. Picture: AFP

Workers in hard hats could then be seen using a crane to ­manoeuvre a large chunk of the sculpture, wrapped in plastic, ­toward a nearby container.

The university confirmed the statue had been removed and placed in storage after the operation was completed.

“The decision on the aged statue was based on external legal ­advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the University,” the university said. No party had ever obtained approval to display the statue and it also cited the colonial-era crimes ordinance in justifying its removal.

That law includes the crime of sedition and has been increasingly deployed by authorities -- alongside a new national security law imposed by Beijing -- to criminalise dissent.

Galschiot said it was “strange” and “shocking” for the university to make a move on the statue, which he said remains his private property.

“This is a really expensive sculpture. So if they destroy it, then of course we will sue them,” he said. “It’s not fair.”

Galschiot said he had offered to take the statue back and, with the help of lawyers, tried different ways to get in touch with the university.

AFP