Hundreds of Mui Wo villagers and southern Lantau Island residents took to the streets yesterday to demand that a former secondary school at the centre of a tussle be reopened to cater to local children.
The site of the former New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Southern District Secondary School is also being sought by the city's only youth drug rehabilitation centre to solve its overcrowding problems.
Though the school in Mui Wo was closed two years ago because of a lack of students, residents said their children needed to go to school near where they lived to cut travelling time. The residents, who have opposed the closure of the school since the decision was made in 2004, have stepped up their protests in recent months after the rehabilitation centre, the Christian Zheng Sheng College, launched a public appeal for new premises.
The college now houses 120 students at its current location, meant for 60, in Ha Keng, on Lantau's Chi Ma Wan peninsula.
Its plan to relocate has garnered support from high-ranking government officials, including Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.
Yesterday, Lantau parents and children wearing green ribbons on their wrists and T-shirts bearing the slogan 'Support our children, yes to local school' marched from Central's Star Ferry pier to the government headquarters.
The organiser, the Mui Wo Rural Committee, said about 1,000 people took part in the protest. The police declined to comment on the turnout.