Activists who erected exhibition for late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo told to leave Hong Kong’s Times Square

Times Square said it would commence legal proceedings against the group if bust of Liu and accompanying exhibition is not removed from site ‘immediately’

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The exhibition and street booth for Chinese pro-democracy icon Liu Xiaobo at Time Square in Causeway Bay. Photo: Fung Chang

Published: 10:30pm, 9 Jun 2018Updated: 10:30pm, 9 Jun 2018

Activists staging a tribute for the late Chinese pro-democracy icon Liu Xiaobo for the past two weeks have been told to leave the grounds of a popular Hong Kong shopping centre for “unauthorised occupation”, according to lawyers for the building’s owner.

Tsang Kin-shing, of the League of Social Democrats, said he received a letter from lawyers for Times Square on Friday. On May 31 he set up a booth with a bust of Liu and an exhibition to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“At first, they sent me a letter saying that we should take our tents down for public safety reasons because of the typhoon this week, the next day they suddenly sent us this letter asking us to leave,” Tsang said.

Hong Kong was hit by rainy weather and thunderstorms from Typhoon Ewiniar last week, with the skies clearing on Friday evening.

According to a copy of the letter seen by the Post, the lawyers said the group did not ask for consent to use the site and said they had violated rules by using loud speakers to promote their political ideas and soliciting donations from the public.