Hong Kong university accused of mafia tactics over Tiananmen statue
The Danish sculptor of a statue that commemorates prodemocracy protesters killed during China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 has accused a leading Hong Kong university of mafia-style tactics over its order to have it removed.
Jens Galschiot loaned the 8m-high, two-tonne copper sculpture, Pillar of Shame, more than two decades ago to a local civil society group, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, in perpetuity.
After the group disbanded last month, with some members accused of national security offences, the University of Hong Kong sent a letter to the alliance last week, requesting it remove the statue from the campus by 11am on Wednesday.
“These people are in jail. And they say within four days you should take it down,” Galschiot said, referring to some of the group’s members who are in prison over antigovernment protests in 2019.
“So I think this is a warning, that we want to destroy this sculpture if you don’t pull it down. So this is a kind of mafia. I am really shocked.”
The University of Hong Kong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sculpture has been on display at the university for more than two decades, and is one of the few remaining public symbols of the bloody crackdown that is a taboo topic in mainland China where it cannot be publicly commemorated.
The statue depicts dozens of torn and twisted bodies that symbolise those killed in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square more than 30 years ago.
China has not provided a full account of the 1989 crackdown. The death toll given by officials days later was about 300, most of them soldiers, but rights groups and witnesses say thousands of people may have been killed.
Galschiot said he contacted the university to explain that he is the owner of the statue and to offer to help with what he described as a “complicated operation” to move it.
“This is my property, so if they destroy it, then we will take action. I think there is still some legal system in place in Hong Kong to protect private property,” he said.
The statue was still on the university campus by the time the deadline for its removal passed on Wednesday, with most of the global financial centre closed due to a typhoon.
SO I THINK THIS IS A WARNING, THAT WE WANT TO DESTROY THIS SCULPTURE IF YOU DON’T PULL IT DOWN. SO THIS IS A KIND OF MAFIA
Jens Galschiot Danish sculptor