A monument at a Hong Kong university that was the best-known public remembrance of the Tiananmen Square massacre on Chinese soil was dismantled and removed in the early hours of Thursday, wiping out the city's last place of public commemoration of the bloody 1989 crackdown. For some at the University of Hong Kong, the move reflected the erosion of the relative freedoms they have enjoyed compared to mainland China, the AP report. The 26-foot-tall Pillar of Shame, which depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other, was made by Danish sculptor Jens Galschioet to symbolize the lives lost during the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
Billy Kwok, a University of Hong Kong student, said the Pillar of Shame has been treated as part of the university by many who studied there. It had been standing at the university for more than two decades. "It’s the symbol of whether (there is still) ... freedom of speech in Hong Kong," he said after the sculpture was taken away. The university said it had asked that the sculpture be put in storage because it could pose "legal risks." Each year on June 4, members of the now-defunct student union would wash the statue to commemorate the massacre. Authorities have banned annual Tiananmen candlelight vigils for two consecutive years and shut down a private museum documenting the crackdown.
Galschioet said he has been promised a spot for the sculpture in a park across from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, and was also offered places in Norway, Canada, and Taiwan. "Grave desecration is also very frowned upon in China, but that’s really what it is. It is almost a sacred monument," the sculptor said. "It is a sculpture for those who died." The dismantling of the sculpture came days after pro-Beijing candidates scored a landslide victory in Hong Kong legislative elections, following amendments to election laws allowing the vetting of candidates to ensure they are "patriots" loyal to Beijing. With many opposition lawmakers either banned from running or behind bars, turnout was low.
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