CityU student union to remove June 4 statue

The City University of Hong Kong’s students union has said that it will take away a statue commemorating June 4th displayed on campus at the request of the university.

In a statement, the union said it had received a letter from the university on Christmas Eve demanding that it remove the Goddess of Democracy on the same day.

The City University’s move came after three local universities took down artworks commemorating June 4 on Thursday and Friday.

The University of Hong Kong removed the Pillar of Shame sculpture from campus early on Thursday after its governing council decided it posed both legal and safety risks. The Goddess of Democracy statue at Chinese University was taken down overnight the day after, as was a large wall sculpture at Lingnan University.

The artwork has been on display at City University for nearly a decade, the union said.

The student body said it owns the artwork, and will remove it later.

Mark Tse, acting president of the union, said the university had told the union that placing the statue in the campus may run the risk of breaching the national security law and is not in the overall interest of the school.

He said the university had also said the licence for the display of the statue had expired.

Tse said the university had agreed to provide assistance for the union to remove the statue, adding that he believes it would not take it down all of a sudden.

RTHK has reached out to the City University for comment.