Bronze lions outside HSBC office covered up

White boards have been erected around bronze lion statues outside the HSBC headquarters in Central. Photo: RTHK

The statues were sprayed with red paint during the January 1 clashes. Photo: AP

Two bronze statues of lions outside the HSBC head office in Central, which were vandalised during the New Year day protests, were covered up on Friday morning with whiteboards.



The bronze statues were sprayed with red paint, stickers put on it during the Wednesday protests and social media footage showed a fire engulfing the two also.



Workers had made a preliminary cleaning on Thursday, and the statues were covered with wooden boards in the early morning on Friday for further repair.



An HSBC spokesman said the bank would hire experts to assess the damage and guide the repair work.



HSBC said that attacks were a sad incident and noted that the bronze lion statues were closely related to the history of HSBC and Hong Kong, and people should do their best to protect this important cultural relic.



The spokesman also said efforts are being made to restore the affected services and facilities as soon as possible and that the primary consideration is the safety of customers and employees.