BRITISH COLUMBIA: Chinese migrants begin hunger
strike
Monday, November 8, 1999
VANCOUVER -- Forty-five of the
female Chinese migrants being held at the Burnaby Correctional Centre for
Women began a hunger strike Saturday morning because they are frustrated
that they have not been released.
A friend of one of the refugees said the women are being told that
their identities have been verified but that they cannot leave until their
bail is paid. Officials at the centre would not comment on the hunger
strike. The women are refusing all food but water.
This summer, four boats carrying nearly 600 Chinese migrants -- most
from the province of Fujian -- crossed the Pacific and landed in British
Columbia. CP
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