More than 350,000 people assembled at Tsim Sha Tsui, many in decorative masks, and marched peacefully along Nathan Road and Canton Road towards the high-speed rail link to mainland China in the afternoon. As front-line protesters in black set alight MTR station entrances and barricaded roads, police fired tear gas at crowded Tsim Sha Tsui, sending families scattering. Protesters left a note explaining why this Chinese store on Nathan Road, Hong Kong, was ransacked. Credit:Kirsty Needham A pitched battle outside Tsim Sha Tsui police station saw protesters throw petrol bombs over the station walls. Police returned fire with tear gas canisters, before firing a water cannon containing blue dye laced with pepper spray that sent protesters running along Nathan Road. Different to previous weekends, both police and protesters seemed to be aware of a wider international audience. Police showed relative restraint in dispersing crowds. Large volumes of tear gas and the water cannon were used against protesters and the public, but there were no mass arrests and little use of batons – which has become the focus of a public outcry over police brutality.

Streets were stained blue from a police water cannon containing blue dye and pepper spray. Credit:Kirsty Needham Protesters who ransacked mainland Chinese shops left notices in English that explained why the particular business had been targeted. "1. It provides funds to CCP [Chinese Communist Party] for its suppression of human rights" read the posters glued to destroyed Bank of China branches and ATMs. Loading Supermarkets and variety store chains owned by mainland Chinese, and a bookstore that was seen to distribute communist party propaganda were also ransacked, with goods pulled off the shelf and windows smashed. The goods were left inside on the floor and there was no looting. Police were criticised for firing the water cannon at the Kowloon Mosque, spraying blue dye across its white front gate and entrance. Several muslim community members were hit by the stinging blue dye. Police issued a statement saying the incident was an accident as they were targeting "rioters" nearby, but this was disputed by journalists at the scene.

A local police commander arrived at the mosque to apologise and officers made a show of cleaning, but most of the clean-up work had been done earlier by protesters who turned up to help, according to a member of the mosque who spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. On Monday morning, Lam and police commissioner Stephen Lo visited the mosque in the wake of accusations from pro-democracy politicians that police had been disrespectful. A protester prepares to throw a molotov cocktail at the Tsim She Tsui police station during Sunday's protests. Credit:AP Despite repeated clearance operations along Nathan Road between Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok over several hours, involving hundreds of riot police marching behind the water cannon, residents and protesters continued to return to the street. As night fell in Mongkok, protesters crouched behind umbrellas and dug up bricks to hurl at police. When police charged and they dispersed, residents and shoppers would crowd at intersecting side streets and heckle police.

These onlookers, many unmasked and middle aged and elderly, would follow the police vans down Nathan Road. When tear gas was fired, volunteer medics would rush forward to guide them off the street and pour saline in their eyes. Amid these battle zones, angry shoppers would occasionally cross the road with plastic bags bulging with groceries and shout out the protester's slogan of "Five Demands Not One Less". Protesters said this bookstore had distributed pro-Beijing propaganda. Credit:Kirsty Needham Special forces police in black moving through Mongkok's side streets encountered young women hurling abuse, many barking like dogs. Police responded with tear gas. A large group of amahs – Hong Kong housekeepers typically from the Philippines who take Sundays off – huddled under a concrete bridge as the scenes unfolded around them.