from the Housing Authority". The Link replied that "the job cuts were in line with private practice". By mid 2015, NGO Link Watch () published a report that showed big chains made up 76 per cent of the 2,075 shops in 22 shopping centres run by the firm, but the Link's CEO claimed, "We continue to maintain roughly 60 per cent of our shops leased to smaller operators." Anti-Link REIT protests have become increasingly common in recent years. Link REIT headquarters in Kwun Tong has been the site of demonstrations, scuffles, and sit-ins, leading the company to seek a court order to bar activists from entering the building. Market management In addition to indoor shopping centres, The Link also acquired many local estate markets in 2005. Such markets are covered facilities with small stalls and shops let out to local residents, generally offering fresh meat and vegetables as well as daily necessities and home wares. As with the shopping centres, The Link has raised rents and also renovated some properties, leading to increased food prices and financial hardship on low-income households. In Tin Shui Wai, where The Link exercises a near-monopoly on commercial space, the company was criticised by local residents and Legislative Councillors in 2015–16 for planning to convert the Tin Yiu Market into a conventional shopping centre. The market supplies fresh vegetables, meat, and fish to residents of the surrounding public housing estates. The next closest market is 5 to 10 minutes' walk away. Stall operators at Cheung Fat Estate on Tsing Yi have gone on strike, in 2010 and 2016, to protest rent increases. By the latter strike it was reported that rents had doubled in ten years. Some local residents stated that they visit a government-run market in Tsuen Wan instead owing to the higher prices at Cheung Fat. The Cheung Fat stall owners also protested the outsourcing of the market's management to Uni-China (Market) Management Limited, which they feared will lead to untenable rent increases. Uni-China (Market) Management also manages the market at Leung King Estate in Tuen Mun, which is also owned by The Link. In February 2016 a group of men dressed in dark jackets with "manager" (管理員) printed on the backs acted in an intimidating manner toward hawkers in the area of the shopping centre since 2 February. More than 200 showed up to protest against the men combating hawkers on the