‘Nowhere to go’: helpers pushed out of parks spend day off in tents at bus terminus

Helpers describe difficulty of finding places they can gather after some online posts suggested visitors were setting up tents

Tents inside Hong Kong bus terminuses that have drawn online complaints during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday are being used by domestic helpers, who say they have nowhere else to go on their days off.

Images of tents lining streets across the city, from Tai Po to Central and Tseung Kwan O, have circulated widely on social media in recent days.

Some posts suggested mainland visitors were camping, as tourist numbers have surged during the holiday.

However, visits by the South China Morning Post found that those resting were domestic helpers, many of whom said they had been gathering in the areas intermittently for about two years.

“We come here because it’s near where we live, and there isn’t really anywhere else we can stay,” said a domestic helper who identified herself only as Cecilia at a bus terminus near Lohas Park’s Hemera Topaz block in Tseung Kwan O.

“Sometimes we go to Central if there’s a party, but mostly we just stay here.”