A Hong Kong museum dedicated to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 is being forced to search for new premises only a year after it opened to the public, after owners of its current building imposed draconian regulations on visitors, the South China Morning Post reports.

Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China—the organization that runs the June 4th Museum —explained that the building’s owners are requiring all museum visitors to give their names before entering.

The building’s owners require all visitors to give their names in the lobby.
Photo: The Star

The owners also reportedly stipulated that no more than 20 people may occupy the 800 square foot venue at once.

“The chairman of the owner’s corporation has been creating a lot of obstructions for us,” Ho told the South China Morning Post. “People who visit other floors are not required to have their names recorded.”

Ho said the unjust regulations are driving down visitor numbers, because the Chinese mainlanders are suspicious of revealing their identities.

Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, vice-chairman of the alliance, said that visitor numbers had drop by half since last year. He suspects that the new rules are behind the drop.

The museum is the first institution in the world dedicated to Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
Photo: All Len All

The Tiananmen Square protests remain a contentious subject on the mainland, according to a museum visitor going by the moniker “PPI.” The 25-year-old student got into the museum using the ID of a friend, and said he wouldn’t have attended the exhibition giving his real name.