The 35-year-old is one of more than 370,000 domestic workers, overwhelmingly women from Indonesia and the Philippines, who keep Hong Kong ticking, often toiling for little pay and living in cramped conditions.

And over the last four months of huge and increasingly violent pro-democracy rallies, the areas where domestic workers rest on Sundays have frequently become battlegrounds for police and protesters.

“My eyes were very painful,” Jochel said of the first time she found herself caught up in tear gas clouds while having a picnic with friends in Victoria Park.

“This is not good. Hong Kong people also suffered,” she said, adding that black-clad protesters helped her wash her eyes with saline solution and lead her to safety.

Hong Kong has been battered by weeks of pro-democracy protests which have seen millions peacefully take to the streets.

But there have also been increasingly violent clashes between riot police and smaller groups of hardcore activists.

Since June 9, more than 3,000 tear gas rounds have been fired across the territory on all weekends but one.