‘Atmosphere of fear’: Hong Kong students lament loss of Tiananmen statues

Staff and students say the recent destruction of massacre monuments is a manifestation of a new and uneasy culture on campus

Sophie Mak, a recent graduate of law and literature, had walked past the fiery orange monument between classes for five years. A month after her graduation ceremony at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), two nights before Christmas, workers erected barricades around the statue. Under the cover of darkness, they cut it down.

It's an absolute disgrace that HKU removed the Pillar of Shame so callously and so furtively," Mak says.