Yuen Long Villagers Evicted To Make Way For Flats

Around a dozen residents of a Yuen Long village were in a brief standoff with authorities on Wednesday before officers evicted all of them to make way for a public housing development.

Most people had already moved out of Fung Chi Tsuen in Wang Chau after the government began resuming land in the area last year. But the diehards remained.

A large number of police officers and staff from the Lands Department arrived at the site in the morning and stood guard at the village’s entrances and exits.

A villager, surnamed Man, said authorities arrived at his home at around seven o’clock in the morning and ordered him to pack up and leave in 10 minutes.

He said the Lands Department had not informed him that there would be a clearance operation.

Man said several officers from the Lands Department broke into his house and carried him out of the village.

Residents are asking authorities to give them two more weeks to pack up and move out, but the request was turned down and Man said everyone had been evicted.

“My property is still in there. I’m eligible to move into public housing. But the thing is they have not rehoused us. Our homes have already been demolished when we have not been offered a place to stay,” he complained, adding that he had already lived in the village for 35 years.

His wife, meanwhile, found she couldn't get back into the village when she came back after taking her child to school.

“I just went out to send my kid to school and when I came back I’ve become homeless. What is the logic of this?” she said.

A banner hung in the village read “they only care about construction, there's no humanity”.