Undocumented boy, 12, 'chased out of Hong Kong by campaign of harassment'
Grandmother of undocumented 12-year-old had him voluntarily deported to Shenzhen to escape ongoing hostility, says lawmaker
A 12-year-old boy who lived in Hong Kong without legal papers for nine years was voluntarily deported to the mainland after he was hounded out of the city by a campaign of harassment, according to a legislator.
Hostility against Siu Yau-wai and his grandmother Chow Siu-shuen, 67, escalated to the point where people were banging on their door in the middle of the night, said Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin yesterday, a day after the two left for Shenzhen and disappeared across the border.
Yau-wai's case came to light when his grandmother contacted FTU legislator Chan Yuen-han, who paraded them before the media last month to highlight their plight and appeal to the Immigration Department to allow the boy to remain in Hong Kong.
People knocked on their door and made noises in the middle of the night
Chan was accused of trying to get political mileage out of the case, while protesters harassed them, complaining the boy was an illegal immigrant who should be deported immediately to avoid setting a precedent for others from the mainland.
"They said they had moved to a new residence to avoid harassment, but the harassment continued," Wong said on government radio. "People knocked on their door and made noises in the middle of the night.
"Yau-wai, though he looks tall and big, is a 12-year-old child after all. Probably he could not stand it. He cried a lot, they said. The grandmother felt for the boy and therefore said she thought of sending him back."
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After the grandmother took Yau-wai to the Immigration Department on Thursday, the two were driven in a government van to Shenzhen, followed by a media pack.