The courtyards of two residential blocks at a Hong Kong public housing estate have been barricaded a day after after a dozen Chinese national flags were believed to have been vandalised.
HKFP visited Lam Shek House and Kam Shek House at Ping Shek Estate in Choi Hung on Monday, and found that the courtyard areas of the two buildings were blocked off by plastic railings and red string displaying signs that read “cleaning in process, do not enter.”
The move came after hundreds of national and Hong Kong flags hung ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Handover on July 1 were removed from the two buildings, following reports of suspected vandalism.
Police told HKFP that as of Monday, 12 national flags hung at Lam Shek House were suspected to have been vandalised and one was suspected to have been stolen, while another national flag was also thought to have been stolen from Kam Shek House.
The case is now being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Team Sau Mau Ping District. No arrests have been made yet.
Kowloon East Chaoren Association told the state-managed Ta Kung Pao last Saturday that it had organised the decorations at Ping Shek Estate and planned to hang 11,500 flags across various locations in Hong Kong.
Wish for ‘mega flag’
A Kam Shek House resident told HKFP on Monday that the flags were removed the previous day.
“I think hanging the flags is personal. You can’t say that a person is not patriotic if they don’t put up flags, because everyone’s expression is different,” she said, adding that she wished there was a “mega national flag” hanging down from the building.
“It would be majestic,” she said.
Another Ping Shek Estate resident, Ms. Yeung, showed HKFP photos of the flags and said that she thought the decorations were beautiful, but she did not know who was responsible for hanging the flags.
She said that the courtyards of the residential buildings were usually not barricaded.
Ming Pao reported last Sunday that the flags were removed and stored at Lam Shek House Mutual Aid Committee’s office. Neither of the committees’ offices for Lam Shek House or Kam Shek House were open during HKFP’s visit on Monday.
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