VIETNAMESE boat people transferred in a military-style operation said they would have been more willing to move if they had been better informed, according to legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai.
Miss Loh, who visited High Island yesterday with two fellow legislators and three human rights lawyers, questioned what communication there had been with the boat people after being told by detainees that there was no advance notice of the operation.
About 1,500 people were forced to move from Whitehead Detention Centre to the facility at High Island on April 7 only after 557 canisters of tear-gas were fired and 213 people injured. The Governor, Chris Patten, has ordered an independent investigation into the incident.
Legislator James To Kun-sun quoted detainees as saying they thought they were going to be repatriated when the operation started.
''They said that when hundreds of police and Correctional Services Department officers entered the camp, they believed they were about to be taken to the airport,'' he said. ''Officials said they just wanted to move them to High Island but the detainees didn't believe it.'' The boat people refused to leave the camp; some climbed on to hut roofs leading to the tear-gas being fired.
Miss Loh said the situation could have been avoided if the Correctional Services Department had provided information to the inmates.