Rioting boat people on run in Hong Kong

The most damaging outbreak of rioting in a detention centre for Vietnamese boat people erupted yesterday, leading to a mass breakout, police retaliation and a strengthening of political will both to deport the Vietnamese and pass legislation which allows indefinite detention of ethnic Chinese asylum seekers who are barred from returning home.

The riot, involving thousands of men, women and children at the Whitehead detention centre, started before dawn as part of a protest to prevent the deportation of 900 inmates. By the time order was restored later in the day a 2,000-strong anti-riot squad had fired 1,800 rounds of tear gas, 26 huts were burnt down or damaged, including one storing the records of those about to be deported, and 53 vehicles were damaged. Road blocks were set up to catch an estimated 150 inmates still at large after the riot.

Despite fallout from tear gas being so intense that nearby villages had to be evacuated, and raging fires throughout the camp, the authorities claimed that no serious injuries had been sustained. Police and prison officers were attacked with home made spears and other weapons.

Supporters of the boat people outside the camps say that the situation inside is becoming increasingly desperate as an accelerated programme of deportations gets underway and China warns that it will not tolerate the presence of boat people in Hong Kong after it resumes sovereignty next year.

China's insistence on total clearance of the camps was reinforced yesterday by Zhang Junsheng, a vice-director of the New China News Agency, Peking's de facto embassy in the colony. Mr Zhang blamed Britain for allowing the boat people to come to Hong Kong in the first place and not making sufficient efforts to resolve the problem.

Local political parties rushed to condemn the violence. The Democratic Party, which has human rights issues as the centrepiece of its campaigns, was as vociferous as other parties in rushing to criticise the Vietnamese. Its spokesman, Albert Ho, said the authorities must "bring those responsible to justice".

Anson Chan, the acting governor, described the actions of the Vietnamese as "deplorable behaviour which we will not tolerate". She stressed the government remained "as determined as ever to repatriate all Vietnamese migrants to Vietnam as soon as possible".

Hong Kong is not alone in acting on a international agreement to achieve the repatriation of all non-refugee Vietnam boat people within a year. There were anguished struggles against deportation in Malaysia yesterday. However Hong Kong has the largest population of remaining asylum seekers. Almost 18,000 Vietnamese are in Hong Kong camps.

Compassion for the Vietnamese was exhausted years ago. Now they are seen as a costly burden who have no business to be in the colony.

The few supporters of the Vietnamese tend not to be Chinese. Robert Brook, a spokesman for Refugee Concern, said yesterday that he did not condone violence but asked for understanding that most of the inmates are "ordinary people frustrated at the way they are treated".

Legislators yesterday agreed to bring forward laws which would overturn the effect of a Privy Council ruling forcing the Hong Kong government to free Vietnamese who have been denied permission to return because of their ethnic Chinese background which, according to Hanoi, makes them citizens of another country.