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Martin Wong

Protesters to continue Wedding Card St battle
Protesters fighting the redevelopment of Wedding Card Street have vowed to keep up their battle after a 59-year-old hunger striker was taken to hospital in tears after fasting for 90 hours.
May Yip Mee-yung,  who had taken nothing but water since Sunday afternoon,  broke down shortly after noon following a meeting with Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor,  who told her the development had to go ahead.
'I don't want to go to hospital. I don't want to go,' Ms Yip sobbed as she was put onto a stretcher before being taken to Queen Mary Hospital by ambulance. She was in a stable condition last night.
Earlier she had been given a glucose injection by activist doctor Lo Wing-lok after she lapsed into unconsciousness briefly.
Ms Yip began her protest outside a construction site in Lee Tung Street, Wan Chai, where she once ran a shop along with numerous others selling the wedding cards that gave the street its nickname.
But she and about 10 members of the H15 Concern Group  went to government headquarters at about 8am yesterday. Ms Yip and Dr Lo, a former medical legislator, were allowed to stay in a car park outside the headquarters, while the others had to stay outside.
An hour later,  Mrs Lam went to see her. Holding her hand, Mrs Lam spoke to her for about five minutes, explaining that the redevelopment project had to continue and  encouraging her to take care of herself.
But her words did not impress Ms Yip, who described the minister as 'very mean and inhuman'.
'She is making the same mistake again and again. Her attitude is so poor that it is hard to  bear,' she said.
At about noon, Dr Lo called an ambulance and injected Ms Yip with glucose.
'She fell into a coma for about a minute,' he said later. 'She was sent to the hospital. Her condition is fine now. She even called her friend on the phone saying she's  OK.'
Mrs Lam remained adamant that the redevelopment  must continue.
'The Town Planning Board believes that these old tenements would be difficult to preserve after research conducted by experts,' she said. 'The buildings are not historical monuments covered under our conservation policy. If the board always has to stop works that it needs to carry out because some people propose some idea, I am afraid Hong Kong will face a tough road on urban planning.'
Mrs Lam added that the board, after thorough consideration, had rejected an alternative idea from the H15 Concern Group, which called for the retention of 30 tenement buildings, a height reduction of four proposed high-rises by five storeys, and the scrapping of a  car park.
The concern group vowed to fight on as about 30 people protested outside government headquarters at 7.30pm yesterday.
'We think every resident's needs should be taken care of before a redevelopment takes place,' said protester Lee Wai-yi.
A source close to the Urban Renewal Authority expressed concern over a possible loophole in the present system, in which anyone  may file an objection to any development project or rezoning, even if they have no relationship with the area. This can delay work for a long time, the source noted.
High hopes
The H15 Concern Group rejects plans to redevelop Wedding Card Street
Under its own proposal, rejected by the government, it wants to retain the following number of tenements: 30



Weak hunger striker  taken to hospital