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Lai Ying-kit

Residents of illegal flats in a Tsuen Wan industrial building yesterday ended their five-day sit-in at the headquarters of the Buildings Department, but vowed further action until their demands on relocation are met.
Seven protesters packed their belongings and left the department's headquarters in Prince Edward at around 3am yesterday after property management staff turned off the air conditioning.
An ambulance was called after one female protester fainted. She was taken to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei and discharged later in the day.
The seven were among 50 tenants evicted from subdivided flats inside Wing Fung Industrial Building in Tsuen Wan last Wednesday. Since then, they had been staging the sit-in at the department's offices.
The residents are demanding they be given shelter at a government facility at Shek Lei in Kwai Chung, instead of at Po Tin Transit Centre in Tuen Mun, which the government has pledged to open up to those who would be homeless otherwise.
They accused the government of not making proper arrangements before evicting them
The department called in riot police last Wednesday morning - when most of the residents were out at work - to enforce a closure order from the courts.
Caritas social worker Sunny Leung Chun-wai, who had been helping the residents, said some had nowhere to go as they did not hold a Hong Kong identity card and were therefore not eligible for either government facility.
Some had been forced to rent space in a hostel at an hourly rate or spend their nights at their workplaces, he said.
The Tuen Mun centre would be too far for the affected residents to go to work, he said.
The residents have pledged further protests to demand a meeting with Development Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po and Buildings Department director Hui Siu-wai, who last week said the arrangement for the evicted tenants to move to the Tuen Mun centre was the best one.
 


Evicted tenants of Tsuen Wan subdivided flats end their sit-in, but vow to fight on

Lickey Chan was one of 50 residents forced out. Photo: Sam Tsang

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