More than 200 Vietnamese remained at the Pillar Point camp yesterday on the eve of its closure, with the centre manager making a final attempt to coax them into leaving.
Security officers are expected to adopt a peaceful approach as they close the camp, even though some residents have vowed not to leave voluntarily. Police said they had no immediate plans to remove any defiant residents following closure at midnight tonight. Tuen Mun District Commander Chief Superintendent Au Hok-lam said: 'We will not arrest anyone. We have no plans to take inmates away from the camp.' A Security Bureau spokesman said 235 residents remained at the camp at noon yesterday. The bureau has warned that anyone staying after midnight will be considered a trespasser.
'Our main strategy is to continue to encourage or assist them to move out voluntarily. This is the most effective way, bearing in mind the remaining inmates have the ability to stand on their own feet and may move out quickly if they decide to do so,' the spokesman said.
Civil Aid Service officers will take over the camp management from Caritas-Hong Kong and will have the power to allow residents with good reasons to extend their stay temporarily. The deployment of the service instead of police is understood to be a tactic designed to avoid inflaming the situation. But the bureau has said appropriate action will be taken to maintain law and order.
Brenda Ku Wing-chee, supervisor of Caritas' social service, which made the final appeal to residents to leave the centre yesterday, said that while some were expected to refuse, she did not see signs of radical protest.
Tuen Mun district councillor Chan Wan-sang said the Government had been too optimistic in believing that offering the Vietnamese identity cards would end the 25-year-old boat people problem. 'The Government believed all the Vietnamese would be happy with the identity card offer. It should have foreseen that some will not welcome it and refuse to leave the camp,' he said.
