High Court ruling affects area located on Tuen Mun housing estate, but at least one vendor is defiant
EDDIE.LEE@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 11 March, 2016, 6:47pm
Police officers stopping hawkers from operating outside Leung King Plaza last month in Tuen Mun. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Illegal food hawkers were to be banned from the open spaces near a shopping mall on a Tuen Mun housing estate where “altercations” took place around the recent Lunar New Year holiday, the High Court ordered on Friday.
But an unfazed street vendor said he would continue to do business on his portable food cart in the neighbourhood.
"We are mobile," the hawker, who only identified himself by his surname Cheuk, told the Post.
At a hearing on Friday, High Court deputy judge Arjan Sakhrani questioned whether it would be reasonable to stop hawkers from entering the Leung King Estate.
He was responding to an application by a major tenant at the Leung King Plaza shopping mall for an interlocutory injunction against illegal hawkers in the estate. The writ was not issued against any specific defendant.
The judge queried whether Uni-China Market Management, which had filed the petition, intended to have a court order applied to an area larger than it was entitled to.
Barrister Derek Hu, representing Uni-China, said illegal hawking was a nuisance in the neighbourhood, adding it had led to confrontations between street vendors and tenants at the mall.
But the judge ruled the restriction should only apply to certain spaces, including the ground floor area outside the shopping mall and a platform nearby, instead of the entire housing estate. The total area of the restricted sites was not specified in court.
The interim court order was issued until a formal hearing or further notice.
VIEW MORE: Closing time – How Hong Kong’s hawkers face a struggle to survive
Last month, brawls broke out between a self-proclaimed hawker control team and people supporting the food sellers in an area of the estate managed by "incorporated owners" – people who bought flats under a tenant purchase scheme.
Despite the latest injunctions, Cheuk vowed to stay. “I have been making a living in Leung King Estate for more than 20 years,” he said.
Cheuk added he would discuss the next move with other street vendors, stating they might find other spaces in the estate to do business.
"We are not banned from entering the village, right?" the hawker asked.
Queried whether he was worried about an imminent eviction, he replied: “We’ll see.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1923472/take-your-food-elsewhere-hong-kong-court-bans-illegal
