HONG KONG, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Hong Kong police fired tear gas as a few hundred protesters gather outside Prince Edward metro station in the Mongkok district, a focal point for demonstrations, a Reuters witness said on Monday.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Hong Kong shopping malls during the day demanding "freedom", but expected street protests failed to materialise in any significant size as the scarred city struggled to recover from violent clashes in recent days.

Tens of thousands of protesters, many families with children, marched peacefully through the centre of Hong Kong on Sunday, most wearing face masks in defiance of the threat of a maximum one year in prison for doing so. The rallies later descended into violent clashes with police. (Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Alison Williams)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.