Nine homeless people suing the government were urged to seek an out-of-court settlement yesterday at a preliminary hearing into the case.
Adjudicator Brian Mak urged the claimants and the Secretary for Justice to try to negotiate a settlement before the court hearing resumes on June 21.
The street sleepers' suit, in the Small Claims Tribunal, claims government workers threw away their belongings - including identity cards, phones and bank books - with no warning during a street clean-up operation.
The clean-up by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and police, under the waste disposal ordinance, confiscated half a tonne of 'rubbish' on February 15 from under a flyover in Sham Shui Po.
Also confiscated were clothes, blankets and electronic appliances. One person claimed to have lost a gold watch and necklace worth more than HK$10,000 in total.
Ng Wai-tung, a committee organiser with the Society for Community Organisation, said it was unacceptable for the department to use the waste disposal ordinance to take away street sleepers' property. The group helped the homeless people file their claims. 'Everyone should be treated equally,' said Ng.
'Sleeping on the streets does not mean that their property is not protected.'