For the past six months, many people have associated images of intense police-protester stand-offs with Hong Kong. 

But when I arrived on Friday, December 6, I wasn't greeted by a city engulfed in riots. It was business as usual. People were going about their business and the shopping district was as lively as I remembered it a few years back. But graffiti on walls and burn marks on subway stations reminded me of what has transpired here.

My first hard news came on Sunday (December 8). Hong Kong saw its first police-approved march since mid-August. Authorities had denied permission several times in recent weeks, because many mass rallies in Hong Kong lately have turned into violent confrontations between protesters and police officers. This time, organizers vowed to keep this march peaceful, but I wasn't taking any chances. I packed my helmet, gas mask, eye goggle, two bottles of water and a towel: these will come in very handy if tear gas is ever deployed. 

The organizer says 800,000 people came, while the police put the number at about 180,000. Protesters were waving flags of Western countries... and the usual chants of "five demands, not one less" and "liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times" were heard.

But I also heard something else. "好仔唔当差," which means "no good guys would want to be police." "黑警死全家," "death to all families of the black cops." These are signs of the heightened tensions between many of the protesters and the Hong Kong police force, who are accused of abusing their power. 

Nevertheless, the entire march remained largely peaceful, and we didn't have to use any of the protective gear. The ethos of the organizer has been called "和理非," which means "Peaceful, Rational and Non-Violent." But many in Hong Kong who claim to adhere to these principles, say at the same time that they would not condemn nor distance themselves from the violent parts of the movement, which are committed by a faction referred to as "勇武," which means "warriors." Tactics have included vandalism, throwing gas bombs and "私了," which means "taking matters into their own hands (physical assaults)." "核爆都唔割," means that "not even a nuclear explosion can make us sever ties."

Despite the verbal exchanges, the march ended without batons or tear gas. But it's not over, say the activists. 

They called for a general strike on Monday (December 9) and vowed to block ten subway lines throughout the city. We left the hotel for a downtown station in the morning. When we arrived at the station, we were greeted not by protesters but by the police themselves. Wan Chai was one of the stations that activists vowed to block. But this and other stations in the city remained largely undisturbed.

At Causeway Bay, protesters have been replaced by the usual residents and shoppers again. Asia's bustling business and financial center seems to be back to its normal order of the day, for now.

(Cover: Protesters march on a previously designated route in Hong Kong, China, December 8, 2019. /CGTN Photo)

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