The “Pillar of Shame”, a statue paying homage to the victims of the June 4, 1989 crackdown, was removed from Hong Kong University on Thursday after twenty-four years of presence, removing a symbol of the freedoms enjoyed by the city. before 2020.
The bad wind from mainland China continues to blow over Hong Kong. New burst this night, with the removal of a statue commemorating the repression of Tiananmen which was enthroned in the most emblematic of the territory’s universities. the Pillar of shame, an 8-meter-high sculpture representing a tangle of 50 bodies deformed by pain, was sheltered from view on Wednesday behind tarpaulins and barriers before being unbolted on the night of this Thursday morning.
To justify its decision, the University of Honkgong (HKU) cites legal risks, without specifying which ones. “The decision regarding the old statue was taken on the basis of an external legal opinion and a risk assessment for the best interest of the university”, declares the institution. In her press release, she assures that no one had obtained formal authorization to exhibit this statue and cites an ordinance dating from the colonial era to justify its removal.
But you don’t have to go back that far to understand what is driving this withdrawal. Since the Beijing-imposed National Security Law came into effect after the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, groups and locations commemorating the June 4, 1989 crackdown in the capital have been in the authorities’ sights. Hong Kong has long been the only place in China where the commemoration of the Tiananmen events was tolerated. Every year, HKU students cleaned the Pillar of shame, installed on their campus in 1997 to honor the victims.
Indignant reactions
The removal of the statue has been decried by exiled pro-democracy activists, still very followed by their many subscribers on social networks. Nathan Law, a former elected refugee in the UK, hopes the statue will continue to live in people’s memory. “The Pillar of Shame has been removed, but the memory lives on. We must remember what happened on June 4, 1989 ”, he posted on Twitter.
Among other indignant reactions, that of Wang Dan, one of the former student leaders of Tiananmen, now living in the United States, who describes on Facebook “A despicable act to try to erase this chapter of history stained with blood.” “Shame on the University of Hong Kong for destroying the history and collective memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre. You should be condemned to the pillar of shame ”, reacts Brian Leung, a pro-democracy activist also in exile in the United States.
For thirty years, a candlelight vigil was also organized in Hong Kong for the anniversary of Tiananmen, bringing together tens of thousands of people. With its slogans for democracy, this meeting was a symbol of the freedom of expression enjoyed by the former British colony. But authorities have banned the last two vigils, citing the pandemic and security issues as reasons. The main organizers were arrested for subversion and a museum on June 4, 1989 was closed.
As workers bustled around the statue at night, the work’s author, Dane Jens Galschiot, found “strange” and “shocking” that the university attack the sculpture, which, according to him, remains private property. The artist says he tried to contact the institution with the help of lawyers and offered to resume his work. He also assures that HKU officials never warned him of the dismantling. “This sculpture is really expensive. So if they destroy it, then of course we’re gonna go after them, he adds. It is not fair.”