The artwork is produced by American digital artist Patrick Amadon and has been displayed on SOGO’s signature screen since last week as one of the exhibitions for the Hong Kong Art Week 2023.

“NO RIOTERS was taken down today at the request of the government,” Amadon tweeted at around 1 am on Thursday.

The artwork, with a red background, shows a CCTV camera panning from left to right and left again while the name of activists, including Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Shiu Ka-chun, and Lee Wing-tat, flashes on the screen.

Amadon earlier told local media that the names flashing in computer code in the pixel-themed work represent protesters as a “glitch in the government matrix.”

“According to a pro-Beijing outlet, I am ‘pro-rioters.’ This is correct,” Amadon tweeted this morning.

He was referring to a report by the state-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po, which accused the Los Angeles-based artist threw his support towards protesters and violence in the unrest through his artwork.

Amadon earlier said he was not in Hong Kong, and there was no legal concern for him at the moment.