Hong Kong university students and graduates on Friday paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square democracy protesters, which were removed overnight as authorities steadily erase all remaining tributes to the historical event.
The removals come a day after Hong Kong's oldest university took down a well-known sculpture commemorating the bloody crackdown, sparking outcry by activists and dissident artists in the city and abroad.
Hong Kong used to be the only place in China where mass remembrance of Tiananmen was tolerated, and the commemorative statues -- found in many top universities in the city -- were a vivid illustration of the freedoms the territory enjoyed.
But since huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago, Beijing has set about remoulding Hong Kong in its own image, imposing a sweeping national security law to curb dissent.
On Friday, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) removed the "Goddess of Democracy" from its campus.
The 21-foot sculpture -- a replica of the giant statue that students erected in Tiananmen Square -- had been a potent symbol of Hong Kong's democracy movement.
Around the same time, Lingnan University of Hong Kong removed a relief sculpture and painted over a wall bearing an image of the Goddess of Democracy.
Candlelight gathering
On Christmas Eve, a few dozen CUHK students and alumni lit candles and placed flowers at the statue's former location -- an outpouring of grief that has become rare in Hong Kong where public gatherings are heavily policed.
Those gathered also displayed placards reading "Shame on CUHK" and "Missing: have you seen her?", while Tiananmen commemorative songs played from a nearby loudspeaker.
Eric Lai, who was the president of CUHK's student union when the statue was moved to the campus in 2010, told AFP he was saddened but not surprised.
"What happened these days in university campuses is a microcosm of Hong Kong society," said Lai, now a scholar at Georgetown Law School.
"The pillars of free expression, diversity and opposition opinions are no longer tolerated by the government."