Thousands take advantage of free ferry service to escape town cut off by Hong Kong protests
- Home Affairs Department lays on boats to take people from Tai Po to Wu Kai Sha, while speedboat owners make most of extra business
- But long wait times means that not everyone is happy with the arrangement
More than a thousand Hongkongers took advantage of a free government ferry service on Saturday morning to travel between Tai Po and Wu Kai Sha after three days of traffic deadlock because of protests at Chinese University.
With more than 400 people already queuing at the Wu Kai Sha pier at 8.30am, speedboat operators took the opportunity for the extra business with those who did not want to wait for a free ride courtesy of the Home Affairs Department.
“One hundred dollars for one, we will go once we have 10 people!” a speedboat operator shouted to the queue. It only took five minutes for him to fill the boat.
The free service was announced on Friday night, three days after intense scuffles between anti-government protesters and police broke out at the campus on Tuesday.
Major roads and part of the railway were blocked and vandalised, causing difficulty for people to get in or out of the New Territories, leaving places such as Tai Po in semi-isolation. Restaurants and supermarkets also ran on low supplies.