Hong Kong families stage vigil

Protesters sang songs as the deadline passed

By Damien Grammaticas BBC Hong Kong correspondent

A crowd of about 1,000 people seeking the right to live in Hong Kong have held a candle-lit vigil as a government deadline for them to return to mainland China passed.

We will not be cowed by adversity, we will go on

Protest song

The government has said it would begin deporting hundreds of children of Hong Kong residents back to China if they did not return voluntarily.

The children were born in mainland China and have spent years trying to win the right of abode with their parents in the territory.

As the deadline passed at midnight Hong Kong time (1600 GMT), up to 4,000 families and their children may have defied the order to leave.

Twins to be split

Protesters gathered in the centre of Hong Kong where they sang songs: "We will not be cowed by adversity. We will go on."

Deadline looms

7,000 people told they cannot stay

Government says 4,500 have applied for papers to leave

Of these, only about 2,300 have left

Among those facing deportation are some children as young as five or six whose parents say have no homes or relatives to care for them across the border.

There are also twin sisters - only one of whom must go - and even a 60-year-old woman who says she needs to be in Hong Kong to care for her elderly blind mother.

For the past five years, the families have been waging a legal battle to stay together, saying their children should have the right of abode with them.

But because the children were born in China, Hong Kong's government has refused to grant them residency rights.

China says migrants will not be punished

It has dismissed all appeals for it to show compassion to the families.

The abode-seekers are particularly bitter because they were initially granted the right to live with their parents three years ago.

But Hong Kong's authorities, with the help of the central government in Beijing, removed those rights, citing the need to limit immigration to the territory.

Hunger strikes

Many of those ordered to leave are now planning to defy the order to repatriate their children.

Their lawyers are trying to lodge last-minute claims for legal aid and damages against the authorities to stave off the deportations.

Some families are still staging hunger strikes. The government has called on them to remain calm and leave the territory.