U.S. law firm Mayer Brown to cease work for Hong Kong University amid controversy over Tiananmen memorial removal

3 yıl önce

Mayer Brown will no longer represent Hong Kong University, the U.S. firm announced on Friday.

The move comes after a controversy about a statue commemorating Beijingâs Tiananmen Square massacre that had stood at Hong Kongâs oldest and most university for 24 years. The artwork, known as the âPillar of Shame,â has faced removal as officials clamped down on any acknowledgment of the 1989 crackdown in the city, just as they have in mainland China.

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âGoing forward, Mayer Brown will not be representing its long-time client in this matter. We have no further comment," the firm said in a statement.

Mayer Brown, a Chicago-founded global law firm that has done work on on police accountability and other civil rights issues in the United States, was contracted by the university for work toward the statueâs removal, placing the U.S. firm at the center of a heated geopolitical dispute over the future of Hong Kong.

Last week, more than two dozen nonprofit groups had urged Mayer Brown to stop representing the university.

âWe therefore expect Mayer Brown law firm to safeguard their reputation and their integrity in defending the right of freedom of expression by rescinding their agreement with the University of Hong Kong,â the groups said in an open letter.

The law firm had also faced pressure from U.S. lawmakers.

âIt is even worse American law firms are doing the bidding of the Communist Party to erase the memory of the brave, young Chinese students who gave their lives for freedom in Tiananmen Square," Senator Lindsey Graham (R-Ga.)

Ellen Nakashima and Shibani Mahtani contributed reporting.