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8/9/22
Squatters warned before arrest
A chief police inspector told Mr P. M. Corfe at Central Court yesterday that he had given the Yan Yi squatters and students 10 warnings to disperse peacefully before issuing orders for their arrest outside the City Hall three days ago.
Chief Inspector Li Shu-fung. attached to Central Police Station, said that on the night of September 5 he had warned the 116 squatters and 10 students who were holding a sit- in outside the City Hall to disperse peacefully otherwise police would take action.
Inspector Li said that the 126 people responded by jeering and shouting at him and did not make any move to disperse.
The court was packed to capacity with the defendants and the villagers and students who accompanied them.
women
One of the defendants, Wong Chau-liu (52), was not present at the hearing because she had to take
her sick child to hospital.
When the hearing began, Inspector Yuen Pak-ping dropped the charge of obstruction against the defend-
ants.
They now face a charge of unlawful assembly to which they have pleaded not guilty.
The day-long hearing was less rowdy than the one held on Wednesday but things were not smooth.
Every now and then some of the defendants were eating or drinking in the court, and quite frequently babies broke into loud wails, interrupting the hearing.
Two male defendants were warned by Mr Corfe not to make funny gestures in court.
"You are not in a theatre, and if you both repeat these actions I will charge you with contempt of court,” Mr Coffe told them.
The village representative, Tam Lau, asked Mr Corfe if the women defendants with babies could leave to seek medical help because many of the babies were sick.
Mr Corfe agreed to adjourn the hearing until today but the squatters wanted him to carry on with the case.
Fourteen police witnesses gave evidence. The Crown has 68 witnesses.
The squatters and students were given free meals at the Caritas Centre at Caine Road yesterday.
They were transported home in three buses arranged by an Urban Councillor, Mr Peter C. K. Chan.
Mr Chan appeared at Central Court shortly before the hearing ended and showed a letter to the village representative which he had received from the Resettlement Department.
The letter stated that the squatters would be resettled in one of the four blocks of the Sau Mau Ping Resettlement Estate, expected to be completed before the end of next March.
Hearing will continue today.
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