Migrants’ Rebellion Quelled in Hong Kong

Police on Saturday regained control of a detention camp for Vietnamese asylum-seekers after a mass breakout and two days of rioting, but 32 fugitives remained at large in the territory.

A massive hunt in Hong Kong’s hills and villages snared 87 of the 119 migrants who escaped from the barbed-wire-ringed camp Friday in a bid to avoid deportation to Vietnam. Earlier reports that 200 had escaped were exaggerated, prison officials said.

While police plucked fleeing Vietnamese off fishing boats and public buses, protesters left behind at the camp clashed with authorities earlier in the day, bombarding them with rocks and homemade spears.

Police, clad in full riot gear and backed by armored cars, shot 240 rounds of tear gas at the 250 rioters to dislodge them from dormitory rooftops. Stalwart protesters used buckets of water and blankets to diffuse the effects of the gas and waved banners marked “Freedom” and “SOS.” One roof was painted with the slogan “Fighting to the end for freedom and democracy.”

The clash ended in the early evening when nearly 2,000 security forces surrounded the barracks, seized the protesters and transported them to Hong Kong’s Victoria Prison. Some legislators have demanded prosecution of the ringleaders but a government spokesman said they will probably be sent back to Vietnam.

The uprising was the worst since Hong Kong started deporting the migrants in 1989. Rioters razed 17 buildings, set 52 vehicles on fire and briefly held 15 camp officers hostage. Although the migrants burned down a building containing their records--in hopes of slowing the repatriation process--the Hong Kong government said duplicate files exist.

Gov. Chris Patten vowed to accelerate efforts to clear the camp, saying, “Nothing whatsoever, particularly the sort of outrageous behavior we have seen this week, will stop us.” China has demanded that all 18,000 asylum-seekers still in Hong Kong be returned to Vietnam before Beijing resumes control of the territory in 1997.

For many Hong Kong residents, though, the sooner the better. All of Hong Kong’s major newspapers have run editorials denouncing the protests and urging speedy repatriation.

Many of the migrants, who fled Vietnam in fishing boats after the end of the Vietnam War, say they fear persecution if they return, though the country has changed considerably since their flight nearly a decade ago.

The United Nations considers the 30,000 holdouts still in camps across Southeast Asia economic migrants, not political refugees, and says they must return home.

The United States is offering slight hope of resettlement for those who can prove ties to U.S. forces during the war or who might be harassed in Vietnam for religious or ethnic reasons.

In an effort to encourage people to leave the camps, however, the program allows hopefuls to apply for U.S. residence only after they return home.