#FirstHand #Protests
“I Felt Disrespected”: Resident Speaks up For Their Community

[View summary of speech here]

#Feb16 #FoTan #QuarantineCentre #FailedState

#FirstHand #Protests
“I Felt Disrespected”: Resident Speaks up For Their Community

[View full recording of speech here]

Thousands of citizens braved the rain to join the rally against the proposal to use a residential development as a quarantine centre. A woman spoke on the rally, who has lived in Fo Tan for over 30 years. “Although I am not a Chun Yeung Estate resident, I understood their feelings.” She pointed out on Friday at 5 pm, although no public gatherings or illegal activities were going on, riot police were dispatched en masse, patrolling across Fo Tan, which made them afraid. When the residents asked District Councilors what happened, they found that even the councilors didn’t know why they were there. “When we woke up the next morning, it is like waking up to another universe,” she said angrily. Roadblocks were placed around our village. All residents of the village were asked for identification documents before entering or leaving their homes. “Never have I seen anything more disgraceful over my time living in the village! Why do I need permission to go back to my home?” Then they found out Chun Yeung Estate was designated to be a quarantine centre.

She expressed her frustrations. “Chun Yeung Estate is very close to our village – these are places where you can pass a bottle of soy sauce from our home to there!” she burst with fury. “Hongkongers are no selfish people, but we need information! How many sites, which keeps a safe distance from residential development, haven’t been used? Until the end of the SARS epidemic, there were still 7000 apartments left. How about now?”

She implored the government to act. “We sit on the same boat,” she said. “If you have no better places for quarantine centers, of course we won’t protest.” She also pointed to the closure of borders with China. “Without closure of Chinese borders, how could you uproot the problem? More new cases happened today. You told us there were always mainland suspected cases. But how did they enter Hong Kong? How did they come to our neighborhoods when they should be under compulsory quarantine?”

#Feb16 #FoTan #QuarantineCentre #FailedState

#FirstHand #Protests
Two Tales of a Community: District Councilor's First-hand Stories From His Constituency

Read more:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/17412

#Feb16 #HealthCrisis #GovernanceCrisis #FailedState #ChinesePneumonia #QuarantineCentre

#FirstHand #Protests
Two Tales of a Community: District Councilor's First-hand Stories From His Constituency

On the rally, a Shatin District Councilor shared 2 stories surrounding the Chun Yeung Estate.

The first is a family of three, a single mother with 2 children, one of whom had ADHD. They had lived in a ramshackle subdivided flat for about 8 years, and finally found their way into the public rental housing. “Then they knew about Chun Yeung Estate,” the councilor said, incandescent with rage. “Why should the government make its citizens pay more for her own policy failures? How irresponsible!”

Another story is from a worker in the catering industry. “Tens of thousands of people work in the areas surrounding Chun Yeung Estate, many of which were either from the logistics industry or the food management industry,” the counselor explained. “He was extremely concerned that if any waste from the quarantine center were not treated properly, it would pollute nearby sewage treatment and even water sources, affecting the Food management factories nearby, with disastrous results to all of Hong Kong.”

#Feb16 #HealthCrisis #GovernanceCrisis #FailedState #ChinesePneumonia #QuarantineCentre

Residents: Replacing the Government and Introducing Universal Suffrage is the Only Solution

200 residents gathered peacefully to oppose the government’s plan in converting Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre into a quarantine centre. The rally initiated by a district council member was held in Sai Kung Waterfront Park and has received a notice of no objection from the police.

There was a similar rally last week decrying the same government plan, which ended with the arrest of 2 civilians. Among them one was injured in the head by the police.

Residents voiced their opinions and raised signs reading “Objection Against Using Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre as A Coronavirus Quarantine Centre “and “Closing the Hong Kong Border is the Only Solution”.

Some residents described the government as “always choosing to be an enemy to the people”; some said the government had already started to convert the location into a quarantine camp. They said they felt very powerless and believed that the problem can only be solved with a replacement of the entire government. “What they are doing is very harmful for the next generation,” one resident said.

Source: InMedia
https://www.inmediahk.net/node/1070832
#Feb16 #ChinesePneumonia #SaiKung #QuarantineCentre