Protest at mainland tourists blasted
Print Edition
Hong Kong officials have hit out at a rowdy anti-mainlanders protest that brought chaos to a key shopping district over the weekend.
A jeering crowd of around 100 activists rallied against visitors shopping in a bustling street in the Tsim Sha Tsui district on Sunday, shouting abuse at mainland tourists and branding them “locusts.”
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying condemned the protest on Canton Road, which forced some shops to close temporarily.
“Action targeting tourists and bringing disruption to them, no matter whether they are from the mainland or overseas, should be condemned,” he told reporters yesterday. “The government will go after those who could have violated the law.”
There is growing anti-mainland sentiment in Hong Kong, with locals frustrated by the increasing number of visitors.
The Hong Kong Tourist Board says it expects 59 million visitors this year‚ of whom it is estimated 45 million will be from the mainland.
Canton Road is a favorite with tourists from the mainland, who can often be seen lining up to enter the street’s luxury boutiques.
During the protest, television footage showed some Hong Kong people holding placards calling for the “eviction of locusts,” while others targeted tourists in shops.
“Go back to the mainland,” one protester is seen shouting at tourists, as the group looks on, mystified.
Minor scuffles broke out when pro-mainland activists, waving Chinese flags, attempted to rein in the anti-mainland protesters.
Hong Kong police said they were “highly concerned” about the incident.
The city’s security chief Lai Tung-kwok said on Monday: “Some stores had to be closed temporarily, causing a direct impact on the shopping district’s normal business activities. Tourists were not only disturbed and frightened, they also felt insulted.”
The South China Morning Post said yesterday one of the protest organizers had apologized for inconveniencing shops and tourists.
It is not the first time anti-mainland sentiment has flared in Hong Kong. In 2012 residents took out a full-page advert depicting mainland tourists as a giant locust over the city’s skyline.
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