0003230
G.F. 323
CONFIDENTIAL
Extract from the Wen Wei Pao
dated 22nd October, 1968.
APPENDIX C (1)
A LARGE PARTY OF GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL WAS
SENT BY THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES IN HONG KONG
TO DEMOLISH WOODEN HUTS IN TAI WO HAU AGAIN.
THE ACTION CAUSED INDIGNATION AMONG HUNDREDS
OF SHACK-DWELLERS.
IGNORING THE DEMANDS OF
THE SHACK-DWELLERS THE EUROPEAN POLICE
SUPERINTENDENT DECLARED THAT DEMOLITION WOULD
CONTINUE TODAY
Wooden huts in Tai Wo Hau Resite Area, Tsuen Wan again faced demolition by the British authorities in Hong Kong yesterday. Around 10 o'clock yesterday morning, over a hundred personnel of the Squatter Control Section, assisted by the Hong Kong British Police, led by a European superintendent and an inspector, arrived in ten and more trucks at Sections 2, 10 and 7 of the Resite Area. While demolishing forcibly the wooden huts, about 50 in number, they dragged out women and children. Hundreds of shack-dwellers were grieved and filled with indignation when they saw their homes being ruined; shopkeepers who were affected are worried about their livelihood and demand that the British authorities in Hong Kong give them resettlement to enable them to overcome their difficulties. However, the British authorities in Hong Kong have no respect for livelihood of the shack-dwellers and have stated that they will carry on demolition today. Occupants of wooden huts in the nearby sections are facing ruin of their homes.
The Tai Wo Hau Resite Area, where demolition by the British authorities in Hong Kong is underway, is divided into ten sections, with over a thousand shack-dwellers. Months ago, the British authorities in Hong Kong sent out notices to these shack-dwellers, informing them of Government's decision to resume the land and ordering them to move out of the area within a certain period of time. The shack-dwellers asked the British authorities in Hong Kong to give them resettlement, but the latter did nothing besides registering them for future allocation of living spaces in Resettlement Estates. They made no mention at all of arrangements for shops in the area. The bad faith on the part of the British authorities in Hong Kong has roused great discontent and bitterness among dwellers of the area.
/Yesterday.....
CONFIDENTIAL