Pan-dems Protest Over Station Visit Restrictions

Pan-democratic lawmakers staged a sit-in protest at the future West Kowloon Station on Monday after they were barred from crossing into certain parts of the mainland area of the building during a site visit.

Several pro-democracy lawmakers, including Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Ray Chan, Jeremy Tam, Au Nok-hin and Fernando Cheung, sat down in protest after they were told by MTR staff they could not pass through fire exits into what will be the mainland-side of the boundary.

Lawmaker Chu Hoi-dick also joined the protest and he remained there after the others had left to attend a meeting.

Mo said they had a valid reason for wanting to see how clear the boundary will be.

"We're trying to see the passage of this co-location business and the main thing is to actually set up a boundary, right, and we're not allowed to see it. The thing is, once this whole thing is passed, there is no way we can even request to have a look at the thing, so this is most irresponsible on the part of the government."

In total, 15 legislators from the Legco bills committee scrutinising legislation for the future station took part in Monday's visit and they were accompanied by Transport Secretary Frank Chan.

Pan-dems say allowing mainland officers to enforce national laws at the station will breach the Basic Law and this amounts to ceding land to the mainland. The authorities say this arrangement is essential to make the new high-speed line convenient for passengers.

The cross-border line is expected to open in September.