The "Pillar of Shame" statue has stood on the campus of Hong Kong since 1997.

The copper statue depicts 50 anxious faces and tortured bodies stacked on top of each other.

It is a memorial to the Tiananmen Square massacre - when Chinese forces opened fire on protesters and hundreds of people died.

The artist received no response

When the university announced in October that it planned to dismantle the statue, it immediately provoked protests.

The Danish artist Jens Galschiøt, who made the statue, demanded that the Danish Foreign Minister put his foot down and call in the Chinese ambassador for talks.

Since then, he has tried to get in touch with the university in order, if nothing else, to be able to bring the statue home to Denmark.

But despite the help of lawyers, the university has not responded.

The statue was covered with large drapes and guards tried to stop journalists from filming the dismantling, according to AFP.

Photo: Peter Parks / TT

Journalists were stopped

When the information began to come in that the dismantling began during the night towards Thursday, local time, he urged his followers to document everything.

But it was not easy.

Large drapes had been set up around the statue.

According to AFP, security guards tried to prevent journalists from filming the dismantling.

- It is a very valuable sculpture.

So if they've ruined it, we'll sue them.

It is not fair, he says after the dismantling according to AFP.

Here, the statue is removed after it has been dismantled during the night towards Thursday.

Photo: Lam Chun Tung / TT

"That's how Hong Kong works now"

In China, the celebration of the massacre is forbidden.

The ruling Communist Party has still not acknowledged that any massacres have taken place.

Until recently, Hong Kong and Macau have been the only regions on Chinese territory where it has been allowed to pay attention to the anniversary.

But that is no longer the case.

This summer, Chow Hang Tung, one of the prominent democracy activists in Hong Kong, was arrested after drawing attention to the anniversary on 4 June.

- That's how Hong Kong works now.

If you fight for democracy in an authoritarian regime, it is inevitable that you will be arrested, the activist told the BBC before she was arrested.

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Anyone who lights a candle in Victoria Park in Hong Kong risks imprisonment for up to five years - SVT's foreign reporter explains why in the video.

Photo: Karin Fallenius / SVT / Archive