Hong Kong’s government has torn down the city’s largest pro-democracy “Lennon Wall” outside the Tai Po Market MTR station.
Message boards made up of Post-It notes and other messages have appeared across Hong Kong since large scale protests began more than five months ago. The biggest one in Tai Po stretched across a vast underground tunnel network.
Government cleaners were on Friday sent to peel the messages from the tunnel walls. The workers were accompanied by several police officers.
By 12pm, most posters had been removed.
A resident told RTHK that he had learned a lot about the protest movement from the message boards.
“I am quite disappointed that they are being removed. We have lost a place where we can reflect and remember what has happened in the past [few months],” he said.
Another resident said some of the slogans were inappropriate because they contained expletives. “It’s not so good to have curse words in front of people’s families,” she said.
A third resident said it would be better to have a place for people to express their opinion.
“The cleaning action made it even uglier,” she said. “Political issues should be resolved politically. The government should reflect on what it has done, including police brutality. [Chief Executive] Carrie Lam should also think about the evil deeds she has done.”
Hong Kong has seen over 25 weeks of unrest sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition agreement proposal with mainland China. The movement has evolved into wider calls for democratic reform and police accountability, as well as other demands.
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