Goddess of Democracy Rises Again : China: Crowd remembers those who died during Beijing crackdown.

A crowd of 200 applauded Saturday as the Goddess of Democracy, the Los Angeles wood and plastic foam replica of the Tian An Men Square statue, was lifted upright in front of the Federal Building in Westwood.

The statue’s reappearance came during a rally beginning a weeklong observance of the one-year anniversary of the massacre last June in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the Chinese government ended pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing.

“We want to dedicate the Goddess of Democracy to all the people of the world,” said Ting Huang, co-coordinator of the observance. “We are absolutely certain that the democratic tidal wave that the Chinese people with great sacrifice and courage created will sweep across all the world.”

The statue, designed by sculptor Tom Van Sant and built by Artists Equity Assn., originally stood on a City Hall footbridge, but was destroyed by vandals after it was relocated in Chinatown. Van Sant said the pieces were stored in his Santa Monica studio until the rally.

But the statue bore a slight alteration, a black armband commemorating those who died, Van Sant said.

Some of those attending the rally were students who had been at Tian An Men Square and escaped China, like Karen, 21.

“Now, lots of people are forgetting the Tian An Men Square massacre and the pro-democracy movement in China,” she said. “The rally today is quite meaningful to remind the people of what happened last year.”