Sheung Shui protesters urge cap on Hong Kong visits for Shenzhen residents in bid to fight parallel trading
- Locals complain once quiet border town is now overcrowded and like an ‘airport terminal’ with people towing suitcases
Scores of protesters marched through the border town of Sheung Shui in Hong Kong on Sunday in a campaign against parallel trading and demanded urgent government action to stop the influx of mainlanders involved in such activities.
The demonstrators accused mainland visitors of abusing the current travel visa system by coming in repeatedly to buy goods in Sheung Shui and then reselling them for profit across the border.
Some 100 marchers shouted: “Parallel traders cause nuisance, the Hong Kong government is incompetent,” as they made their way through Shek Wu Hui in downtown Sheung Shui. Some shops pulled down their shutters as protesters passed.
The group accused parallel traders of causing overcrowding and blocking roads. Among protesters was Sheung Shui rural leader and retired horse trainer Brian Kan Ping-chee.
“Sheung Shui villagers have been really fed up. Every weekend, the roads are blocked by mainland visitors. Traffic gets jammed and my car can only move forward literally inch by inch,” Kan said.
Sheung Shui villagers have really been fed up. Every weekend, the roads are blocked by mainland visitors
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who organised the march, demanded that the government discuss with mainland authorities the possibility of limiting visits for residents of neighbouring city Shenzhen. They proposed a cap of only eight trips a year, instead of once a week under the current arrangement.
But a group of about 10 members from the pro-Beijing Care Hong Kong Power staged a counter protest. Convenor Chan Ching-sum criticised Lam for trying to stir up cross-border tensions.
On Sunday afternoon, many stores in Shek Wu Hui were flooded with mainland shoppers. At San Lung Fung Dispensary, there were long queues at the registers. Outside, shoppers crowded the pavement as they stuffed bought goods into suitcases.
Meanwhile, at Sheung Shui MTR station, several localists also staged a protest against mainland visitors.
Waving placards that read: “Reclaim Sheung Shui station. Protect our home”, and “Sheung Shui is my home, not your supermarket”, they shouted at passers-by with suitcases, asking them “not to come to Hong Kong again”.
North District Parallel Imports Concern Group convenor Ronald Leung Kam-shing said mainlanders should not be allowed to come to Hong Kong more than once a year.
“Sheung Shui used to be a quiet rural town. Now it is more like the airport terminal. You can see people pulling suitcases everywhere in Sheung Shui scrambling for goods in shops.”
A survey by Leung’s group showed the number of cosmetic shops in Shek Wu Hui had risen by more than a third in the past year to 131 this month. The number of money changers also shot up by 17 per cent to 42.
“Obviously, these shops are there to serve parallel traders,” Leung said.
According to official figures, Hong Kong received about 45.9 million mainland visitors between January and November 2018, or about 137,000 daily – up 14.2 per cent from the same period in 2017.
The number was already bigger than that for the entire 2017 when there were 44.4 million mainland arrivals.
