TWENTY former rooftop dwellers in Tsuen Wan have vowed to defy a government warning demanding that they pull down a shack they yesterday built on a busy pavement in the town centre. The protesters have lived for more than a month in a shanty town outside the district office, after their illegal homes were demolished for safety reasons in a government operation. They yesterday erected an 80-square-foot hut on the pavement of Market Street 'to mark the 50th homeless day'. It cost them about $1,000 and they planned to take turns to live there while keeping the camp at the district office as their 'headquarters'. They challenged Secretary for Housing, Dominic Wong Shing-wah, to demolish the makeshift hut if he believes it to be illegal. Dweller Lai Choi-wan said: 'We shall stay here until we are offered public units in the district. We have nowhere else to go. We are homeless.' Her mother Lai Kong Wong-ying added: 'The kaifongs here are sympathetic. Some shook hands with us and praised our action . . . some helped fix us an electricity supply.' The Lands Department last night ordered the squatters to tear down the hut before 5 pm today or face forcible removal. A protest organiser, Wong Chung-chen, of Ecumenical Grassroots Development Centre, said the move was ridiculous. 'Tearing down the hut can solve no problem. The Government has shamefully ignored the residents' rehousing needs and will only resort to drive them away wherever they go.' Tsuen Wan District Officer Thomas Chow Tat-ming said: 'The campers have caused serious environmental nuisance and a lot of inconvenience to the visitors to our office. We shall try to persuade them to move this week. 'But we cannot rule out asking police for help in case they refuse,' said Mr Chow.
