A group of Hong Kong residents have placed an advertisement in a popular tabloid calling people from mainland China ”locusts”.
The full-page advertisement in Apple Daily was funded by donations from a web-based group.
The term is an insult commonly used on the web by some of the city’s residents to refer to mainlanders.
It comes as tensions escalate in Hong Kong over China’s increasing influence and the influx of mainland visitors.
The advert, which warned of possible social conflict, contained lines such as “Hong Kongers have had enough!” and “This city is dying, you know?”.
The donors, who raised more than HK$100,000 ($13,000, £8,200) for the advertisement in less than a week, also called for the government to stop the ”unlimited infiltration” of mainlanders.
The ”locusts” advertisement follows recent controversial remarks made by Peking University professor Kong Qingdong.
He called Hong Kongers “bastards” and “running dogs of the British government” when commenting on an earlier incident in which a mainland Chinese girl was reportedly told off by locals for eating on a Hong Kong train