TNAG-0912-FCO40-1122-Policy-on-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 115

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OUR

YOUR

葉錫

恩

(MRS.) E. ELLIOTT.

TEL. 0-422414

REFI

HEP:

With HKK 360/2R

55. Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong.

KOWLOON,

Saga of the Village of Peace and Happiness, Hong Kong

Seven villagers' families had lived for ten to more than twenty years on a small plot of land in the Village of Peace and Happiness (On Lok Tauen).

The land was not theirs, but the landlord had no use for it and allowed them

to stay there with their pigs and poultry.

This peace was broken a few years ago when the landlord sold the land, and soon the new landlord began sending his agents to visit the tenants and

threaten to evict them immediately. On one occasion the police were called in and the threats stopped. Legal action began and went on for years. But in the end the

landlord won and the villagers knew they had to move.

The Government District Office was approached and promised to allocate

a resite for the villagers. The landlord promised compensation to facilitate the removal. Bargaining began with the villagers asking a total of $80,000 for the

families to rebuild their huts and piguties and remove to the new location.

Finally the landlord agreed to give the villagers $60,000 and a time extension

of twenty days to build their new huts. The agreement was made at 2.00 p.m. on 24th. May, 1979. The Government had allocated the site and everyone seemed

satisfied.

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The same night, 24th. May, the landlord sent his agent to say that he

rejected all the conditions, that he would give each family $3000, and they must remove

by Sunday, 27th. May. The villagers were in a panic and ran from office to office,

but the landlord had chosen his time well: no one was available and Saturday

is an office holiday.

What arrangement s the landlord made with the police it would be interesting to know, and why a matter being dealt with by the District Office

suddenly became a police para-military operation is also a matter for investigation.

Whatever answers may be found to these questions, the fact is that at 9 a.m.

on Sunday, 27th. May, police surrounded the Village of Peace and Happiness and

ordered the people to get out of their homes as they were to be demolished.

According to Government releases, the people threw stones and bottles at the

police, which led to police using tear gas. People who try reason and negotiation

but find themselves frustrated by an officialdom that is always on the side of