Hong Kong police are investigating suspected criminal damage at a new June 4 museum, in an incident the operator said was politically motivated and may have been designed to stop its opening this month. On Sunday morning, an employee who went to the museum, set up in Mong Kok to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing, found several items had been damaged. A lock at the entrance was missing, electrical sockets and switch boxes were splashed with salt water and a screwdriver or similar object was used to pierce holes in a chair, according to Lee Cheuk-yan, secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Alliance chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan said an air conditioner was also damaged after being splashed with liquid. The alliance, which organises the annual vigil in Hong Kong to remember the bloody crackdown, operates the museum, located in a commercial building on Mong Kok Road. “It appears to be purely damage. Is the vicious power in Hong Kong that arrogant that they can damage whatever they like without considering the consequences?” Lee said, adding that the alliance had reported the case to police. “We hope police will seriously investigate the case and identify the people who did the damage.” Lee said an estimated HK$20,000 (US$2,548) to HK$30,000 was needed for repairs. Tiananmen museum to open in time for 30th anniversary of crackdown Ho believed the incident was politically motivated. “We don’t know who did it, but they appear to be targeting the alliance and don’t want us to open the museum, or want to delay the opening,” Ho said. He believed the museum would open as expected on April 26. Ho said there would be 24-hour security at the site from Sunday, and CCTV would be installed within two days. Police confirmed they received a report shortly before 2pm on Sunday about damage at the museum. Initial investigation showed that nine electrical sockets and two switch boxes were splashed with liquid, and a computer chair was suspected to be damaged. As of Sunday afternoon, no one had been arrested. We don’t know who did it, but they appear to be targeting the alliance and don’t want us to open the museum, or want to delay the opening Albert Ho, alliance chairman The alliance bought the Mong Kok site for HK$8 million in December as a new location for the museum, after its initial premises in Tsim Sha Tsui closed in 2016 , about two years after opening. In 2014, the alliance bought a unit in a commercial centre in Tsim Sha Tsui to house the museum. However, over the next two years the group was caught up in lawsuits with the building’s owners’ corporation over the use of the space. The alliance sold the property in 2016, and set up temporary exhibitions in the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre in Shek Kip Mei for short periods in 2017 and 2018. Alliance vice-chairman Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong said earlier he hoped the new museum in Mong Kok would offer a chance for young people to learn more about the history of democratic movements in mainland China and how Hong Kong had helped.