More Tiananmen monuments removed from Hong Kong universities

Two more Hong Kong universities have removed public monuments to the 1989 Tiananmen protests in Beijing, following the dismantling of a sculpture marking victims of the military crackdown at the University of Hong Kong earlier this week.

A 6.4 metre tall bronze "Goddess of Democracy" statue holding aloft a flame at Hong Kong's Chinese University was removed from a public piazza just before dawn on Friday.

"Following an internal assessment, and as the manager of the university campus, CUHK has removed the statue," the university said in a statement.

The Hong Kong sculpture was modelled on a 10-metre white plaster and foam statue erected by students in Tiananmen Square in 1989 as a symbol of their resolve in pursuing liberty and democracy in China under Communist party rule.

Hong Kong's Lingnan University also took down a Tiananmen massacre wall relief sculpture, that also included a depiction of the "Goddess of Democracy".

The scultpure includes images of a line of tanks halting before a lone protester known as "tank man" and victims shot by Chinese troops being carried away.

The artist, Chen Weiming, who created both the statue and wall relief, said that he would sue the universities if there was any damage to his works.

A towering red picture of the Goddess of Democracy in the Lingnan University student union main hall had also been painted over in grey paint.

READ MORE: Hong Kong University removes memorial to Tiananmen massacre

Clamp down

Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 and was promised wide ranging autonomy and freedoms by China under a so-called "one country, two systems" arrangement.

Authorities have been clamping down on activists in Hong Kong under a national security law imposed in June 2020. Human rights activists say the new law is being used to suppress civil society, jail democracy campaigners and curb basic freedoms.

Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the security laws have restored order and stability after mass protests in 2019, and that fundamental rights and freedoms are still respected.

"Since the Chinese communists implemented the national security law in Hong Kong, they have eradicated the freedom of press, of assembly and the freedom of expression," artist Weiming said.

"They want to remove the real history of the brutal crackdown…they wouldn't allow any different viewpoints to continue to exist in Hong Kong."

When asked whether Hong Kong or Chinese authorities had instructed all three universities to remove these Tiananmen monuments, the office of Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, gave no immediate response.

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