Forty former miners face being evicted from huts which have been their homes for the past half century to make way for a private residential project.
Residents of Ma On Shan Tsuen, a remote village whose settlers are mostly former workers from the nearby iron ore mine, have been asked to leave their brick homes.
But they say they cannot afford flats and will be forced to sleep on the streets if the developers, Sun Hung Kai Properties, refuses to re-house them.
The mine closed in the mid-1970s, but most workers stayed behind. Many are elderly and live on public assistance.
Their houses were built on private land and under existing policy they are not eligible for government rehousing.
Villager Lam Pak, 70, a former mine worker now living on public assistance of about $2,000 a month, said: 'I don't care about the status of the land, whether it is private or Crown, I want rehousing.' Mr Lam, who is single, has lived in the makeshift hut he built under a bridge for 40 years. He does not pay rent. He drinks well water and uses no electricity.
