some 2/9/22
2.5-
Unruly sceneX
as squatters go to Court
More than 100 Yan Yi squatters were freed late last night after a Central Court magistrate, Mr P.M. Corfe, reconvened his court at 11.05 pm to hear them finally agree to sign a $5 recognisance.
It was a quiet end to an unruly day.
At earlier court appearances. the 126 people charged with obstruction and unlawful assembly, had refused to sign the recognisance before being released.
(They would not have had to pay the money. They merely had to sign a document saying they could find the money.)
At 10.45 pm, the defendants sent a message to Mr Corfe saying they had changed their mind.
At 11.05 pm, the Court reconvened and the squatters. and some student supporters. were quickly freed.
After the uproar earlier in the day, the hearing was remarkably quiet.
Mr Corfe said he was glad to see that sensible counsel had prevailed.
Then everyone went home. including the large units of police who were at the scene.
In the morning, emotion was high inside and outside the No. 1 courtroom where the case was heard,
Inside the courtroom, the 126 defendants, mostly women carrying children, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
When Mr Corfe offered the defendants recognisance in $5 cach student supporters and others in the public gallery called out "don't sign."
This was echoed by people outside the court.
Mr Corfe ordered it the defendants to DC F in custody for the dig ten none of them would stg the reco_nance.
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At one stage, there was wild shouting when news was spread that the child of an arrested woman, Mrs Chan Suk ying. had been rushed to hospital from jail with "high fever."
It was learned from other sources that 19 of those held at Western Police Station after their arrest had refused meals offered to them. Others at Central Police Station, however, accepted the food given.
A student spokesman said their representatives who were arrested on Tuesday night outside the City Hall "had only been there providing food and water for the people.
Earlier, the President of the HKU Students' Union. Mr Joseph Luk, said he would call on students abroad to protest at British embassies as well as seek the support of foreign student bodies.
At the City Hall sit-in on Tuesday, students were observed taking charge of the situation in a militant way. They prevented mothers with babies from leaving for home when warnings were given by the Police to disperse to aviod being arrested for obstruction and unlawful assembly.
The Resettlement Department reiterated yesterday it would not give in to pressures by squatters of Yan Yi village, a temporary resite area at Wong Tai Sin, for immediate resettlement.
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In an interview with the S.C.M. Post explaining the
of the Resettlement Apartment, the Acting
Lamiasuoner
J.C.C. sympathised
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