補習-Goddess set for Times Square despite fear of more arrests

Pro-democracy activists say they will erect a replica of the Goddess of Democracy outside Times Square this weekend to mark the 22nd anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

This is despite the arrest of a dozen members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China during a similar activity last May.

Alliance chairman Lee Cheuk-yan said yesterday a statue would be put up at the same spot in Causeway Bay on Saturday. If the authorities come down hard again this year, it is a sign they are against the democracy movement, Lee said.

The alliance will also hold a protest march on Sunday in a run-up to the annual June 4 candlelight vigil for victims of the crackdown.

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Lee was speaking outside Eastern Magistrates’ Court where an executive member of the alliance, Li Yiu-kee, was on trial for breaching the public entertainment law.

He was charged after he claimed responsibility for a group putting up a 3-meter bronze statue of the goddess outside Times Square.

On the final day of the trial yesterday, prosecutor William Tam Yiu-ho said anyone using a public place for entertainment purposes without prior approval is breaking the law.

Tam added it was evident from video footage of the public taking pictures and surrounding the statue that it was an “activity of entertainment.”

Li’s lawyer, Joseph Lee Jo-yee, argued the law is too broad and does not specifically state what is meant by use of a public place.

He added that Li was simply the “person- in-charge” and not the organizer, thus his plea of not guilty.

Magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan will hand down his verdict on June 24.

The statue became a symbol of the democracy movement when students erected a 10-meter foam version in Tiananmen Square.

The bronze statue from last year is now at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. However, authorities and the Students’ Union are still at odds as to where it should be displayed. ELIZABETH LAW