HONG KONG (AP) — Universities in Hong Kong are eradicating memorials to the bloody suppression of the 1989 Chinese language pro-democracy motion centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Sq..
The Chinese language College of Hong Kong early Friday took down the “Goddess of Democracy,” a statue based mostly on a determine created by artwork college students and dropped at the sq. shortly earlier than the crackdown by which a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of individuals have been killed.
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The removing of the monuments testifies to the ruling Communist Get together’s efforts to erase the bloody occasions from the general public consciousness. It additionally comes because the get together snuffs out democratic challenges in Hong Kong to its rule.
On Thursday, a monument on the College of Hong Kong was dismantled, wiping out one of many metropolis’s final remaining locations of public commemoration of the crackdown.
The federal government has by no means supplied a determine on casualties and the pro-democracy motion stays a taboo subject in mainland China. Hong Kong and Macao, the 2 semi-autonomous territories, have been the one locations on Chinese language soil the place commemorations of the crackdown have been allowed till authorities banned annual candlelight vigils for 2 consecutive years.
In a press release, Chinese language College confirmed the removing of the statue and stated it had by no means approved its show and that no group has claimed duty for its upkeep and administration.
Individually, Lingnan College additionally eliminated a bas reduction memorial wall show devoted to the reminiscence of the June 4 motion.
The college’s determination was predicated on the “general safety of the college neighborhood after a current evaluation,” government-run Hong Kong Radio Tv reported.
