Threatened with legal action, pro-democracy activists yesterday removed a statute of Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo from outside the Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay.
The group unveiled the 1.5 meter bronze statue last Tuesday and planned to display it until July 13, the first anniversary of Liu’s death in the custody of mainland authorities.
Avery Ng, chairman of the League for Social Democrats — which helped organize the display together with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China — said the group had been sent a letter late last week from lawyers for the shopping mall’s management, threatening to seek a court injunction if the statute was not removed.
“We decided that the most important thing was to make the public aware of the anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s death, rather than be confrontational, we moved it to another public area in Causeway Bay,” he told Coconuts HK.
“They used lawyers and money to force us out, of course we’re disappointed with the decision, but that’s all we can do for now.”
The group — which moved the statue to Paterson Street in Causeway Bay — had, on May 31, set up a booth outside the popular shopping center with an exhibition to mark the 29th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Ng said they received two letters, the first saying the group was “obstructing the space” and should leave. The second threatening legal action.
“The Open Piazza is dedicated unto the public for the purposes of pedestrian passage and passive recreation only,” the second letter read, adding that activities there could be restricted if there were “noisy and disorderly” or “likely to cause annoyance or nuisance or interfere with the use and enjoyment” of the area.
According to the SCMP, the 3,107 square meters of public space outside the mall is managed by Times Square, under a special arrangement between the mall’s developer and the government in 1992.
Liu, a long-time activist, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition known as Charter 08, which called for democratic reforms in China.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, but was never able to accept the honour in Oslo. He died from liver cancer on July 13, last year while under guard at a hospital in north-east China, making him the first Nobel peace prize winner to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, the 1935 recipient.
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