Authorities in Hong Kong removed a 26-foot tall monument to the people who were killed by the Chinese government at Tiananmen Square in June 1989, a sign that the government in Beijing is strengthening its grip on the once-British enclave, the Washington Post reports.
Known as the “Pillar of Shame,” the statue was created by Danish artist Jens Galschiot and depicts a crush of human bodies, representing the unknown number of people killed by Chinese government officials attempting to quell a massive human rights protest.
Because of its unique status as a former British territory on mainland China, Hong Kong enjoys a modicum of freedoms not available to people outside the enclave. Thanks to those freedoms, the statue was allowed to be one of a handful of memorials to Tiananmen Square on Chinese soil.