Opposition activists on Sunday held their annual ritual of washing the Pillar of Shame, a sculpture at the University of Hong Kong that commemorates the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

It marked the start of a series of annual events as Hong Kong remembers June 4 for the first time since the central government imposed a national security law on the city last year.

Sunday’s event was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, a group mainland Chinese academics have labelled subversive because of its calls for an end to “one-party rule”.

The Pillar of Shame: The history of Hong Kong’s harrowing tribute to the Tiananmen massacre victims

The eight-metre tall Pillar of Shame statue connects a Danish artist, China and Hong Kong with the commemoration of 1989 Tiananmen Massacre victims. It also reflects the development – or perhaps the deterioration – of democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.

“The old cannot kill the young forever,” is engraved on the base of the pillar – above it, a towering entanglement of human suffering cast in bronze, copper and concrete.

Its Chinese name, meaning “Pillar of Remembrance” or “Pillar of National Grief,” was translated by the late pro-democracy politician Szeto Wah, who formed the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China in May 1989 before the June 4 massacre.

he pillar, created by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt in 1996, was moved to the University of Hong Kong campus by students in 1997 right after being exhibited at the annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park.

Former lawmaker Albert Ho, now chair of the Alliance, recalled why they decided that the statue must be transported to Hong Kong before the 1997 Handover to China.

“We fought for the statue to be shipped to Hong Kong when it was still under British rule. At that time, we had good reason to believe that this statue would not be allowed to enter after the transition,” Ho said.

The Tiananmen massacre ended months of student-led demonstrations in China as the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to crack down on protesters in Beijing.

UK Foreign Office files declassified last year revealed how a member of the Chinese State Council suggested that at least 10,000 civilians were killed, though estimates of the death toll vary.

In the early hours of June 5, 1997, amid scenes of confrontation with HKU campus security and the police, students managed to enter the campus by insisting it was a private area.

“I said at the time – the only way to peacefully resolve the matter was to allow the pillar to enter,” Ho said.

A secondary school teacher, who was in his first year of study at HKU at the time, told HKFP that he was a moderate student, but he believed the student union was doing the right thing and so joined in support.

“It was just before the Handover – as a year one student, I felt something has to be done,” he said. “But I did not expect a clash would happen.”

He said he was at the back of the crowd, but was gradually pushed to the front, as the confrontation continued until 3am.

“When the school made a compromise, I was glad – I had done something meaningful,” he said.

“I did not think the incident would be so influential. To me, the Pillar of Shame was a symbol of the fight with crimes against humanity. We refused to let go,” he added.

The pillar was then exhibited at several universities, before the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Polytechnic University erected their own Goddess of Democracy statues years later – tributes to the one erected by the Tiananmen students.

In 1998, HKU’s student union hosted a referendum which gave a mandate for the pillar to remain permanently at the school.