Lawyers said yesterday more than 5,000 mainland Chinese migrants have the right to live in Hong Kong, and some vowed to stay even if they lose their legal fight.
Hong Kong authorities said the migrants will be deported if the Court of Final Appeal rejects their case being argued this week, which would split up thousands of families.
But some said they would go underground and others threatened to keep fighting if they must -- though it is not clear what they could do.
"If we lose, we'll hide," said 22-year-old Tom Tong. "We'll find a hole to hide in."
Court security officials carefully searched everybody entering the court, keeping out water bottles to ensure nobody could bring in any homemade fire bombs.
Lawyers representing 5,114 mainland Chinese are making several different cases for people with varying circumstances, and it is possible some of the migrants could win while others lose.
Many of the migrants say they must be allowed to stay because they were in Hong Kong in January 1999, when the Court of Final Appeal ruled in a separate case that any person with at least one Hong Kong parent had the right to live here, regardless of when the parent attained residency rights.
Hong Kong's government warned that would flood the territory with immigrants, and officials here persuaded Beijing several months later to tell the court it had ruled wrongly -- which stirred worries that Hong Kong was surrendering its judicial independence.
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