Fourteen of them filed a writ with the tribunal to claim compensation of up to HK$13,000 from the government after being evicted from Tung Chau Street Park in Sham Shui Po along with their belongings in December 2019.

Only seven of them attended the tribunal hearing on Tuesday -- one had passed away, two have been out of reach and the rest are either in hospital or jail.

The tribunal heard that on December 21, 2019, riot police were evicting street-sleepers in the park in an anti-crime operation. At the same time, cleaners from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department disposed of their belongings using a garbage truck.

Before the hearing, the seven street sleepers and the community organizer of the Society for Community Organization, Ng Wai-tung, protested outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building.

They were chanting slogans such as "Sleeping in the street is sinless, whereas eviction is unreasonable" while holding a banner that read "It is the third time street-sleepers -- one of whom had passed away -- are suing the government."

Street-sleeper Chow Hung-kwong brought the portrait of his deceased cousin Ma Yuet-wing -- also a street-sleeper -- with him.

He said outside court that the constables gave them only three minutes to pack their belongings and leave. But he could not do that in time, as he had to tend to his cousin in a wheelchair.

"My belongings were subsequently cleared, including HK$800 in cash from the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance subsidy, and a mattress," he said.

Another street sleeper, Lau Ka-hei, said the cleaners dumped his belongings -- including a backpack, a mobile phone, several cans of luncheon meat and HK$3,000 in cash -- into a garbage truck.

Ng criticized the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for not notifying the street-sleepers to pack their belongings at least 24 hours in advance.

But police inspector Ng Yin-fat, who led the operation, told the tribunal that the street-sleepers were given 25 minutes to pack, not three minutes as they claimed.