HONG KONG -- Hundreds of people held a protest rally Sunday in Hong Kong to urge the government do more to address severe social problems in their housing estate, which has seen a rise in suicides, family abuse and mental health problems.

About 400 people, some riding bicycles, wound their way from Tin Shui Wai housing estate in Hong Kong's rural hinterland near the mainland China border to government offices in downtown Hong Kong.

Tin Shui Wai has been dubbed "The City of Sadness" for its high rate of unemployment, suicides, and domestic and child abuse. Over the last eight years, at least 19 people have been killed in 6 suicides, including a mother and her two children last month.

Residents want the government to spend some of its 377 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$48.53 billion; £á32.77 billion) in fiscal reserves to improve the area's social services.

They want a local hospital, more job prospects and cheaper transport costs, and are demanding action to prevent domestic violence.

One of the campaigners said the rally was the first step in efforts to press the government to do more.

"We will try to establish a long-term campaign, to set up a progress group to force the government to face our problems. This is just the start," organizer Chung Yuen-yee told government-run RTHK radio.

Hong Kong is one of Asia's most affluent societies, but as the city moves from its traditional manufacturing base to a more service-based economy, many of its less skilled workers are being left behind. Social workers worry about a growing wealth gap and the stresses of poverty on family relationships.

Although Tin Shui Wai was initially built as a bedroom community for workers to escape the hustle and bustle of urban Hong Kong, most of the housing is now government subsidized. About 80 percent of the town's 280,000 people are on welfare.

There are few employment opportunities in the isolated area, and the high cost of transport makes it difficult for people to look for jobs outside the town.

In October, a depressed mother bound her two childrens' limbs and threw them from their 24th-floor apartment before leaping to her own death. A few weeks later a second woman was found trying to commit suicide with her 11-month-old child in a reservoir. Both women were bringing up their children alone and on welfare.

The government last month said it will increase the number of mental health experts in the area and will offer transport subsidies.