Protestors hold banners Friday at Tsoi Yuen Tsuen asking the government to solve their relocation problem first before evicting the villagers. Provided to China Daily

Villagers from Tsoi Yuen Tsuen have won a reprieve from their Friday eviction deadline after 300 protestors held their ground against government officers Friday.

The morning showdown between drum-beating protestors and government officers, flanked by green clad police, eventually ended after the officers' pleas for residents to give way were rebuffed. The government officers then packed their vans and drove off.

The eviction of residents of the Shek Kong village was scheduled to begin Friday, in preparation for demolition of the community, to make way for the HK$66.9 billion high-speed railway to Guangzhou.

Roughly 50 families have agreed to swap their homes and be relocated to village in Pat Heung, through a farm re-instatement scheme operated by the Heung Yee Kuk, the city's rural affairs body.

According to Choi Yuen Tsuen Concern Group chairwoman Ko Chun-heung, the government had yet to keep its January promise to build the new village in Pat Heung, prior to evicting villagers from Shek Kong.

There was a promise to secure funding for the project from lawmakers.

"If the families have new homes, there is no problem about leaving. Our demands are simple: prepare the village in (Pat Heung) and give them six months to make the transition," Ko said. She added, renters from the village who are faced with homelessness should be given units in public housing until their new quarters are built.

She noted that government workers had already begun clearing the area well before compensation settlements were sorted out.

It is estimated the new site covering 145,000 square feet will cost roughly HK$18 million but negotiations have been held up by indigenous villagers who have rejected offers thus far, while discussions over a 30-meter private road leading to the site have also been deadlocked.

The rush to remove all traces of the village has attracted widespread support locally. Dozens of academics have signed petitions in support of the villagers' plight in local newspapers.

More than five dozen academics from the city's institutes of higher learning have called on the government to finalize re-housing arrangements before throwing the villagers out of their homes.

Some 30 other families who have agreed to give up their village life are also challenging compensation payments for their crops and land, charging there is a lack of transparency over how compensation sums were tabulated.

A second protest was also held in front of the Murray Building in Central. Protestors planned to remain there overnight Friday to press demands that the government re-open negotiations about compensation for the villagers.

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/20/2010 page1)