Passion of Wedding Card Street residents helps message hit home
Disgruntled Wedding Card Street residents yesterday took their message directly to the homes of two senior officials, carrying a mock cross to signify the hardship they have to bear.
Housing, Planning and Lands Secretary Michael Suen Ming-yeung and Billy Lam Chung-lun, the head of the Urban Renewal Authority, are almost neighbours in Happy Valley, which made it easier for the 50-plus protesters, whose homes on the ageing street in Wan Chai are being targeted for demolition in two years. The street, properly called Lee Tung Street, will be turned into a leisure, shopping, residential and commercial area.
Carrying a cardboard cross and banners, the group first marched to Mr Lam's residence in Village Road at about 9.30am, calling Mr Suen and Mr Lam two 'warlords' over the property resumption. They claimed offers of government compensation were far below what it costs for similar flats in Wan Chai.
'We feel as terrible as Jesus Christ after being forced to give away our properties. Officials are pulling each other's legs and none of them are listening to us,' said Anissa Wan Shuet-chun, one of the rally organisers, picking up on a Good Friday theme. Some protesters had yellow paper strips conveying their wishes stuck to their backs.
Through a loudspeaker, another protester shouted: 'Give us back Wedding Card Street. A flat for a flat.'
The protesters demanded to see Mr Lam but instead were greeted by the police after an hour's wait outside his residence. They then marched to Mr Suen's home near Blue Pool Road. They stuck posters on his building's entrance but he did not show up.
May Yip Mei-yung, another protest organiser, admitted the police had not been notified about the rally.
'If we don't act fast, nobody will care. Even though our voice has probably fallen on the officials' deaf ears, we will continue to do the best we can to demand what we deserve and make our plight known to the public,' she said.
Timothy Li Sung-ming, Mr Suen's press secretary, refused to say whether the housing chief was at home at the time of the protest.
'It's the third time people protested outside Mr Suen's residence on a public holiday,' he said. 'Of course they have the right to protest. But I hope they will be more sensitive to the neighbourhood there. Mr Suen's neighbours had to call the police previously because the protesters were noisy,' he said.
An Urban Renewal Authority spokesman said it had managed to acquire more than 48 per cent of 647 property interests on the street. But he said the owners' flat-for-a-flat proposal would be difficult to implement.
