Hong Kong 'right of abode' hunger strikers collapse

On day five of their hunger strike the elderly protesters are getting weak

By CNN's Kirsty Alfredson

HONG KONG, China -- Two elderly hunger strikers have collapsed after going without food for five days to highlight their children's attempts to have the right to live in Hong Kong.

Chau King Oi and Sze Kau Yung, both in their 70s and with two children involved in a class action appeal in Hong Kong's court of final appeal, were treated in hospital Thursday.

About twenty hunger strikers are maintaining their vigil outside the court. Most are parents whose children are seeking "the right of abode" in Hong Kong.

If their case fails, the 5,000 people involved in the action could be deported to China.

Bribes required

Wong Yuen Fong says she will sacrifice everything for her children's rights

One of the hunger strikers, 67-year-old Wong Yuen Fong, told CNN she would sacrifice everything for her four children to be able to live in Hong Kong.

"If my children can't come and stay with me I will jump to my death," she cried.

"None of my children can come to Hong Kong to help me and my husband so we are on our own. My husband has been in Hong Kong for twenty years and I have been in Hong Kong for ten years."

Wong says her children have been applying to come to Hong Kong for more than two decades but they "don't have enough money for what they are asking".

The money she was refering to related to bribes, not travel expenses.

The issue dates back to the 1997 handover of the former British colony to China when new laws (Basic Law) for the first time allowed children of Hong Kong parents born on the mainland to live in Hong Kong.

Faced with a possible flood of migrants, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region enacted legislation that would require mainland children to possess travel documentation from China before being allowed to apply to Hong Kong immigration authorities.

Violating the Basic Law

Would-be migrants challenged that legislation in the Court of Final Appeal and on 29 January 1999 it ruled that limiting the right of abode violated the Basic Law.

Around 5000 claimants could be deported to China if they lose their appeal

The current two-year court battle stems from the Hong Kong Chief Executive's decision to then ask the National People's Congress Standing Committee to reinterpret the Basic Law.

In June 1999 the standing committee reversed the landmark ruling, sparking protest from human rights and legal groups which saw Beijing's move as undermining Hong Kong's judicial independence.

The claimants were already in Hong Kong when Beijing effectively overruled the court decision, saying the revised law should not apply to them and that they had a legitimate expectation that the Hong Kong Special Administrative region would abide by the original ruling.