Dampener on festival spirit

An elderly woman accepts free rice at Tsz Wan Shan Playground during Hungry Ghost Festival celebrations yesterday. Poor weather and new Home Affairs Bureau rules limited attendance to 1,200, down from 2,000 in recent years. The bureau restricted organisers to handing out 1kg bags of rice instead of 5kg ones, and banned squash, sweet potato, vegetarian food, and plastic buckets following the death of an elderly woman at an event in Tsim Sha Tsui last year. 'Last year I got two big packets, but today I queued up for four hours since 6am to get so little rice. I won't come any more,' said nearby resident Yeung Kam-shing.