Arrested for making HK$1, elderly cardboard seller wins hearts, minds and the all-clear
Public outcry over ‘merciless’ treatment of 75-year-old woman prompts officials’ U-turn
The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department on Monday bowed to pressure and dropped charges against a 75-year-old woman for selling cardboard without a hawker license following immense public outcry over her arrest.
The U-turn came after mounting calls – including a protest joined by 30 people on Sunday and a petition with over 15,000 signatures – to denounce what activists called the “merciless behaviour” of department officers.
In a written statement, the department said it had decided to withdraw the charges against the elderly woman, surnamed Chu, after consulting the Department of Justice and considering the woman’s background.
“The department will take appropriate law enforcement action to maintain environmental hygiene and to ensure that the public will be free from nuisances triggered by illegal hawking at key passages and unlicensed hawker blackspots,” it added.
On June 11 in Central, Chu, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and gastritis, was approached by six department officers and later charged for unlicensed hawking and obstruction of public places after she sold a piece of cardboard to a domestic helper for HK$1.