Two more Hong Kong universities removed on Friday public monuments to the 1989 Tiananmen protests in Beijing, following the dismantling of a sculpture commemorating victims of the crackdown at another university this week.
Summary
- “I feel heartbroken and shocked,” said Felix Chow, a former Chinese University student and district councillor.
- When asked by Reuters 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, said it had no comment.
- Earlier this week, the University of Hong Kong dismantled and removed an eight-metre (26-ft) -tall “pillar of shame” statue to victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.
- The disappearances of these symbolic monuments from three universities in quick succession mean that hardly any Tiananmen monuments remain to public view in Hong Kong.
- “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.”