Bird sellers strike over flu losses
Bird sellers at the Bird Street market in Mongkok will start a two-day strike today as they demand government compensation for business lost because of fears about the spread of bird flu.
They claim the government's flu prevention advertisements have scared people away from their shops, which sell pet birds.
These adverts included messages urging tourists not to visit places that sell live birds. The sellers are also unhappy that the government has ignored their request for financial assistance while chicken vendors at wet markets were given compensation.
'There are fewer bird vendors here [compared with the number of people selling chickens],' vendor representative Lo Pak-leung said. 'Maybe that's why our pleas had fallen on deaf ears.'
The vendors believed government advertisements were unfair as no one at the market had fallen ill from bird flu, Mr Lo said. The ban on importing live birds also meant they had no new stock to sell.
He said some vendors were in financial trouble but were too proud to admit their problems publicly.
