Hong Kong police stormed the subway at the end of a chaotic Saturday that saw protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at riot-gear clad cops wielding tear gas and water cannons in the 13th straight weekend of protests.

Thousands of demonstrators defied a ban to march through the city on the fifth anniversary since Beijing ruled out fully democratic elections in Hong Kong.

While the protests started out peacefully, they became increasingly intense as the day wore on.

By evening, the demonstrators were throwing bricks and using laser pointers to disorient cops, who in turn fired off rounds of tear gas in front of the city’s government headquarters.

They also used blue-tinted water in water cannons, presumably to be able to identify protesters later.

“Telling us not to protest is like telling us not to breathe. I feel it’s my duty to fight for democracy. Maybe we win, maybe we lose, but we fight,” Eric, 22, told Reuters.

Demonstrators in several areas set blazes that lit the night sky.

Outside the Chinese government offices, the barricades cops used to keep the protests away from the buildings were piled up and set on fire, sending huge flames and billowing smoke into the air.

The latest protests have no leaders.

Marching with the slogan “be like water,” meaning be flexible, Saturday’s protestors moved randomly through the city chanting “stand with Hong Kong” and “fight for freedom.”

Among scores arrested was an apparently American man who said in one of several viral videos that he has lived in Hong Kong for 24 years.

“This is Hong Kong, this is not China!” the unidentified man, clad in a T-shirt and cargo shorts, shouts at cops in one clip.

In another clip, he argues in favor of Hong Kong’s autonomy, the central issue in the protests sparked by an unpopular extradition bill.

The bill is shelved, but protesters continue to march, seeking the ouster of the city’s leader Carrie Lam, democratic elections and investigations into alleged police brutality against demonstrators.

Saturday’s crackdown is predicted to bring more complaints about police behavior.

Video from a local TV station showed cops swinging batons at subway passengers huddled in a train car behind umbrellas.

Pepper spray was shot through an open door at a group seated on the floor while one man holds up his hands.

Other clips posted to social media showed multiple injured and bloodied protesters, including one in a wheelchair, and EMTs locked out of subway stations, begging cops to let them in.

“Sir, I beg of you,” said one medic at a locked station in a widely posted video. “You can assault me or shoot me after I’ve done my job. Please, just let me get in and treat the wounded.”