Why were there 1000s of women sat on pavements/footbridges in Hong Kong over the w/e in Nov?

I was lucky enough to be in Hong Kong in November, and over the weekend I was there I could not help but notice hundreds if not thousands of women sitting on the pavements and footbridges. There were so many of them there was hardly room to walk in some places. They were all sat on bits of plastic, and were mostly eating takeaway. They were obviously not beggars, were of all ages, and all seeemed happy enough. Is this normal or was there something going on? They were there on Saturday and Sunday but no trace of them on Monday!