MILITANT To Kwa Wan shopkeepers fighting government eviction yesterday threatened to demolish the area by blowing up 10 canisters of liquefied petroleum gas.
Teams of firemen and medics were called and police closed off Pak Tai Street as joss-stick shop boss Chan Wai-man confronted officers with gas cylinders.
The dramatic last-ditch resistance marked yesterday's nine-hour operation to clear 118 squalid old buildings in Ma Tau Kok for a Housing Society redevelopment.
Two hundred police and Police Tactical Unit officers in full riot gear were sent to protect about 100 workers deployed to evict the occupiers of 66 shops who had ignored the Government's removal orders.
The shopkeepers, who have been paid up to $2 million compensation each, vowed to stay put until more money was forthcoming.
Scuffles broke out shortly after clearance began at 8 am when workers tried to enter single-lodger Szeto Lung's rooftop hut at San Shan Road.