Li Ka-shing's flagship Cheung Kong asks court to drive out strikers
Now, Li Ka-shing empire applies for an injunction - the second in less than a month - to clear its headquarters of protesting dockers
Tycoon Li Ka-shing's flagship Cheung Kong company dealt a blow to striking dockers yesterday, seeking an injunction in the High Court to keep them away from its headquarters in Central.
Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong, sitting in the Court of First Instance, said he would not hear the application in the absence of the demonstrators because it involved a constitutional right to demonstrate and freedom of expression.
"My question is what the urgency of this application is. I walked past twice this week and I found things to be peaceful," Pang said of a site outside the Cheung Kong Center where the strikers set up base on April 17 after being barred from Kwai Tsing Container Terminals.
My question is what the urgency of this application is. I walked past twice this week and I found things to be peaceful
The judge adjourned the hearing to next Friday.
Walkout organiser and unionist lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said Cheung Kong - whose subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa is the parent company of dock operator Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) - was cracking down on their freedom of expression.
"This is outrageous … We have been expressing our views peacefully here," Lee said, adding that the strikers would stay put.
Hutchison Whampoa said the strikers' actions were not peaceful any more. For example, it said, some supporters stormed the headquarters on Wednesday, causing a nuisance to people who worked inside.
