When tear gas shell comes in, they place a traffic cone on top creating a “chimney” to stop the gas spreading; then pour water into the chimney to douse the shell. pic.twitter.com/sTfjbs3ifT Antony Dapiran (@antd) 29 juillet 2019

Since June, millions of people have taken to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the pro-Chinese government. In recent weeks, clashes between police and demonstrators have grown increasingly violent. Social media has been filled with striking images of protesters working in perfect coordination to neutralise the tear gas used against them. The builders' hard hats worn by protesters to protect themselves from projectiles have become an iconic image of the protests in the way that umbrellas came to symbolise protests in 2014.On July 28, police used tear gas in an attempt to disperse tens of thousands of protestors taking part in an unauthorised march . Videos posted on social media captured the rapid, coordinated response from some groups of protesters. One of these videos was filmed by Antony Dapiran, an Australian lawyer living in Hong Kong.The protester 'firefighter' teams, as Dapiran calls them, manage to stop the smoke released by tear gas grenades from spreading. He told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that these protesters "have been developing these tactics over the last few weeks, and every week they get better organised. I don’t feel unsafe with the tear gas. Actually, none of the young protesters fear the tear gas now."The secret weapon used by these firefighters is a simple traffic cone. They put it over the tear gas canister to keep the smoke from spreading and to create a kind of chimney. Then they pour water into the cone to douse the shell.