INTERNATIONAL: On Thursday, a leading Hong Kong university has taken down a statue from its campus site that for more than two decades has commemorated pro-democracy protesters killed during China's Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.

Security guards at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), on Wednesday night,have placed yellow barricades around the 26-feet high, two-tonne copper sculpture called the "Pillar of Shame" that commemorates those killed by Chinese authorities more than three decades ago.

The artwork, of anguished human torsos, is one of the few remaining public memorials in the former British colony to remember the bloody crackdown that is a taboo topic in mainland China, where it cannot be publicly commemorated.

Loud noises from power tools and chains have emanated from the closed off area for several hours before workmen were seen carrying out the top half of the statue and winching it up on a crane towards a waiting shipping container.

Several months ago, the university had sent a legal letter to the custodians of the statue asking for its removal.

Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, who created the statue, has said in a statement he was "totally shocked" at this move against his private property and that he would "claim compensation for any damage to the sculpture".