'The Lands officer ordered us to demolish our gates. He said that if we refused, they would come to remove them and bill us for it,' villager Elza Wong said. 'My eldest sister was so scared, she wouldn't join us to meet the legislators on Thursday.'

The Democratic Party's Wong Sing-chi - one of five legislators meeting villagers and concern groups over the Kap Lung situation - said the order was illegitimate and accused the Lands Department of 'undermining the Legislative Council'.

'When the legislature is investigating a case, all government action related to it should stop. The Lands Department is challenging the legislature's power. We are following up the case - how can they remove the gates? They want to pressure the complainant not to complain. They are using this trick to cover up [their problems],' Wong said.

Village chief Tsang Hin-keung applied to have the footbridge widened so that it could take vehicles in compensation for what he says is disruption to fung shui caused by tunnelling work for the Guangzhou-Hong Kong express rail link a kilometre away.

The bridge was approved in principle in November last year by a working group headed by the Lands Department.

Land searches show Tsang has bought 13 land lots through his company since 2007. Villagers fear Tsang plans to use the bridge to transport materials to build either a columbarium or housing - and will ultimately force them out of the village.

Villagers and concern groups believe the department wants the gates removed so that it can build a road to the village to be used by Tsang for construction purposes.

A Lands spokeswoman initially denied the officers had been to the village to issue the demolition order.

But when the Sunday Morning Post produced the name and particulars of an officer who visited the site, the department changed tack.

The spokeswoman confirmed the officers had indeed been there and said the order was legitimate because the gates had been 'erected on government land without the prior approval of the Lands Department'.

But lawmaker Wong said any structures - including gates and fences - built on government land before 1983 were registered as 'tolerated' structures and protected against demolition. 'If they thought they had the legal right to demolish the gates they wouldn't have initially denied going to the village,' he said.

The Lands spokeswoman said the department was acting on an anonymous complaint. The officers told villagers the gates were blocking access.

'Our home's gate is not blocking the entrance to the village at all. The path to the rest of the village is to the right of the bridge,' Elza Wong said. Her mother built the gate in the '70s.

Another villager, Lam Yui-tin, 73, said: 'Why should I demolish my gate? When I bought the house in 1970, the gate was there. It is next to the village path and does not block the way.'

Villagers said they were first ordered by the department to demolish their gates in 2006, when the government agreed to Tsang's request to build a road to the footbridge in Kap Lung - despite strong opposition from residents. 'At that time, we told the Lands Department that we were involved in a court case with Tsang, who was claiming my mother and my sister's homes, and the gate was important evidence. The department agreed not to go ahead with it,' Elza Wong said.

Eddie Tse Sai-kit, convenor of the League of Rural-Government Collusion Monitoring, said Lands was stepping up pressure on the villagers. 'Why does Lands want to remove these gates at a time of concern and media interest about it transferring benefits to rural authorities?'

Wong Sing-chi said: 'The Lands Department is taking revenge.'