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工人學生政治行動委員
WORKER-STUDENT POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
J.
The most obvious result is a general feeling of frustration; this
not is an intangible thing, but leads to many very tangible results, least of which is the incidence of violence. Hong Kong has much more 'crime,' in absolute terms, then Britain, although the population of 41 million is about one twelfth the size of Britain's. And signifidently,
is about most of the offenders come from resettlement estates and squatter areas.
Thorè is a painful lack of privacy.' When everything one does is mder the sorutiny of Comily or neighbours, and one's personal life is laid bare, young people are unable to develop into healthy, well-balanced members of the community, Sex crimes are probably more frequent in
rosottlomont estates than anywhere else in Hong Kong.
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The continual noise and interruptions make concentration on one's
studies next to impossible, and so children do badly at school, drop out
prematurely, mix with undesirable company, and become, to use Hong Kong's
term, teddy boys. Gang fights
ccurrence. hts are an almost daily occurrence Mothers find it is impossible to control or give sufficient affection
to their children, who are always attracted by the games an of the
hundreds of other children in their immediate neighbourhood, and lack of proper playing facilities for so many children hinders their healthy
development
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Because there are so many people in such a limited amount of space
the average resettlement estate has upwards of 45,000 people ina small aron, and a single block in Tsz Won Shan catate has over 7,000 legal. tenanta the recreational facilities available (when they are available, which is by no means always), inre invariably overtaxod. Young people, aspoaially boys, do not have suffiodont space to work off their naturel' accressiveness in such harmless netivities na football, basketball,
wrestling, pto.
oto., so substitute outlets have to be found. In their recent stop-and-search campaigns the Police have come across à surprisingly large
number of offensive weapons; knives, iron bars, and triangular files seem
to be the favourites.
IF
Another, serious result of overcrowding is that bạch family, finding itself unbearably cramped, tries hard to get more space; when the legal channels prove useless (which" in fact usually happens, since many of the applicants for more space actually have more than they are entitled to
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even before they apply) they tend to turn to
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less legitimate methods
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