The lawyer representing more than 300 protesting mainland overstayers is to seek permission this week for them to stay in Hong Kong until a High Court test case which will determine their fate is heard.
Lawyer Pam Baker, who represents 18 mainland overstayers already arrested, will apply to the Immigration Department for 'walkabout' permits for the 315 other mainlanders who remained outside the Central Government Offices on their 13th day of protest yesterday.
This would allow them to stay in the SAR until a decision in the test case involving the 18 is reached in the High Court.
Father Franco Mella, a Catholic priest helping the protesters, said issuing permits to the protesters would allow them to go home, shower and sleep.
'It'll be a psychological boost for them, to relax after two weeks of uncertainty, eating and sleeping here,' he said.
The protesters have stayed outside the Central Government Offices, avoiding trips to public toilets for fear of being held by immigration officers.
Most of them have overstayed their two-way permits issued for family visitations and are appealing to the Government to allow them to stay on account of the court ruling which grants anyone with a Hong Kong parent the right of abode.