Hong Kong’s cleaners, in tears as they pick up the mess left by protests, ‘need better protective gear’ to safeguard their health
- Workers run gauntlet of broken glass, burned-out rubbish bins and tear gas once protesters go home
- Contractors leaving elderly employees without goggles, gloves or breathing masks
Street cleaner Tsui finished work at 5.30pm last Sunday, grabbed a quick dinner and headed for Wan Chai MTR station to go home, only to find the station closed because of anti-government protests.
The 60-year-old, who asked to be identified only by his surname, decided to walk two stations to Tin Hau. He avoided Causeway Bay, having heard there were clashes between police and protesters there, after thousands marched to the United States consulate to appeal for American support.
The detour did not save him from pungent, irritating fumes that made his eyes tear up immediately.
“My eyes and skin were burning,” he recalls. “The tear gas must have been brought here by the wind.”
He got home safely that night, but returned the next morning to find a huge mess on the streets he usually cleans, including Hennessy Road, the major artery running through Wan Chai. Broken glass, torched rubbish bins, and iron pipes used by protesters to block roads were strewn around the streets.
“There was broken glass everywhere, and we had to sweep it by hand, which took hours,” says Tsui, who has been a cleaner for more than 10 years. “We also had to take those long iron pipes back to the garbage collection point.”