Standfast shop operator removed

A Yue Man Square shop operator who chained himself to his shop to voice discontent over compensation he is receiving for his removal was eventually taken away by Urban Renewal Authority security officers.

Lam, 45, chained himself to his shop at 2am yesterday after refusing to vacate his premises by the deadline under the URA's redevelopment plan.

More than 100 security officers were sent to the shop and 10 of them cut open the chains on Lam's hands and removed him from the premises in 20 minutes.

Lam accused the URA of being unfair on compensation. "The shops around me were smaller than mine, but they are getting more compensation than the amount the URA proposed to me."

He said the URA offered less because there was a smaller customer flow for his shop, adding that it did not listen to his demands but only went by the book.

"The URA is taking everything from me. It was so hard for me to find somewhere with such a cheap rent to do business, and it is now taken away, and they told us to do business at other places with a higher rent," Lam said.

He said he paid only HK$4,000 in rent a month and criticized the URA for killing the business environment for grassroots.

Activist Julian Fung Ping-tak said if Lam accepted the URA's package, he would get only HK$900,000 after sharing the compensation with his partner, and he would need to pay HK$25,000 a month in rent and HK$8,000 in management fees.

A spokesman for the URA said they met with Lam on 27 occasions in the past three years and have tried to fulfill Lam's request to raise the compensation, but he still refused to accept the package.

"Lam's claim that his shop is the biggest yet getting the least in compensation was deviating from the facts as his shop was actually the smallest and the compensation calculated was unbiased and fair," he said.