June 4 museum sees 7,000 visitors

Mainlanders who visited the June 4 Memorial Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday said they hoped it could survive the legal challenge against it and remain a place where people can go to find out the truth about the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago.

They were among almost 7,000 people who had visited the museum by yesterday morning, since it opened on April 26. The museum is the world's first permanent exhibition on the 1989 democracy movement.

Watch: Chinese mainland travellers visit June 4th Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui

At the museum for the first time yesterday, 35-year-old Tianjin freelancer Tang Wenquan said he was worried about the lawsuit against the museum, which is being sued by the owners' corporation for violating the deeds of the building where it is housed. "This place is pretty meagre … but if it [closes down], it will be a great loss for China, because this is the only place in China where the truth about June 4 can be made public," Tang said.

The owners' corporation of commercial block Foo Hoo Centre is seeking an injunction against the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China to stop it from using the 800 sq ft fifth-floor unit as a museum. But the alliance says it sought legal advice before buying the unit last year for more than HK$9.7 million.