While some residents lauded the troops for helping to clear streets from debris left by protesters, others in Hong Kong read the hour-long action as a warning from Beijing.

Here are key questions and answers on the issue:

What did the Troops do?

Following one of the most violent and intense weeks in the crisis, dozens of soldiers in sports gear rather than military fatigues emerged on Saturday from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s barracks in an upper-class district of Hong Kong.

The men picked up bricks and other objects left on the street outside their barracks by protesters, who throughout the previous week had choked traffic city-wide with debris.

They also jogged in formation up and down one road, with the operation filmed by local media and bystanders.

The PLA later confirmed that it had acted to open the road outside their Kowloon Tong barracks to traffic.