Hong Kong’s museum commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre will re-open at a Shek Kip Mei arts centre for two months from April to June, its organiser has confirmed.
The exhibition will run at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre from April 30 until June 4, the date of the massacre 28 years ago.
“We have not given up on finding a suitable location with a suitable price to set up a permanent museum,” Albert Ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance for Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said on Tuesday.
“But until we find a permanent location, we will hold exhibitions and spread the message about June 4 in this way.”
See also: In Pictures: June 4, 1989 – the night the tanks rolled into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square
Originally a derelict industrial building, the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre now houses the workshops and studios of various artists, and holds regular exhibitions.
Legal pressure
The Alliance’s old museum, located at a commercial building in Tsim Sha Tsui, was closed last July following legal pressure from the landlord and other property owners in the same building.
The landlord argued that the Alliance violated the terms of the property deed, stating that the premises should only be used as an office. It also sought an injunction against the museum.
Visitors also complained that the building’s security guards would ask them to register their personal information upon arrival.
Chairman Ho alleged that the pressures against the museum were political.
On Tuesday – the day of the tomb-sweeping festival – members of the Alliance lay wreaths in Tsim Sha Tsui at a temporarily-erected replica of the Goddess of Democracy, a statue originally built during the 1989 student protests in Beijing.
Around two dozen protesters led by the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats also marched to the Central Liaison Office – Beijing’s government organ in Hong Kong – demanding the release of imprisoned political dissidents in mainland China.
The Alliance also organises the annual Tiananmen vigil at Victoria Park.
