When reached by The Associated Press, sculptor Galschiøt said he was only aware of what was happening to the sculpture Wednesday from social media and other reports.
“We don’t know exactly what happened, but I fear they destroy it,” he said. “This is my sculpture, and it is my property.”
Galschiøt said that he would sue the university if necessary to protect the sculpture.
He had previously written to the university to assert his ownership of the monument, although his requests had gone largely ignored.
Over 100 pro-democracy activists have been arrested since Beijing implemented the national security law in Hong Kong. It outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs. Critics say it rolled back freedoms promised to Hong Kong when it was handed over to China by Britain in 1997.
The Pillar of Shame monument has been erected for over two decades, and initially stood at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park before eventually being moved to the University of Hong Kong on a long-term basis.
Each year on June 4, members of the now-defunct student union would wash the statue to commemorate the Tiananmen massacre. The city, together with Macao, were previously the only places on Chinese soil where commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown was allowed.
