About two dozen inmates at an immigration detention centre have been refusing meals for five days now.
That's in protest of being detained with no information of when they'll be released.
And their plight is raising humanitarian concerns in the city.
Scroll down for the full script.
(Aired on ViuTVSix on 5 July 2020)
Full script:
End the indefinite detention of immigration offenders.
That's what these petitioners pushed for, as they voiced support for two dozen or so detainees inside Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre who've refused meals since July 1.
Around 380 non-residents are being held at the centre, known as CIC.
They're awaiting deportation, or a decision on their non-refoulement claims.
But they have no idea how long they'll be held there.
And more of them started refusing food today.
It's a situation 29-year-old Ali Muhammad knows well.
The asylum seeker spent three months locked up at CIC himself earlier this year.
(Soundbite, ALI MUHAMMAD, Asylum Seeker)
"It's mental torture, they just mentally torture everybody. Everybody (is) thinking, 'when we go out, when we go out.'"
Lawmaker Fernando Cheung had written on Tuesday to immigration authorities asking to meet the hunger strikers.
He's heard nothing yet.
(Soundbite, FERNAND CHEUNG, Labour Party lawmaker)
"All detentions are supposedly are for transitional purposes. Now they are to be deported within a very short period of time but some of these people have been detained for months.
And we found that out one person has been there for three years."
Given the ongoing pandemic, he's also worried about CIC's hygiene conditions, after a visit in March.
"We saw this bucket in the middle of the room, and that was their drinking water. There was a ladle on top of the bucket to be utilised by 50 or 60 people."
In a statement, the Immigration Department said most of the detainees who refused meals have bad criminal records that involved violent and serious crimes.
And if released, are at a higher risk of absconding or committing crimes again.
They also say they provided medical examination and also counselling services to the detainees, as they continue their protest.
- ENDS -