Young people surrounded Hong Kong’s parliament building on Wednesday in a protest that descended into the worst violence the city has seen in decades. On Thursday morning, they returned to the scene to tidy up. Photos and videos have been shared online of groups of young people picking up trash that had been left behind by demonstrators fleeing from tear gas and rubber bullets fired by police after skirmishes broke out between officers and protesters.

A small crowd is back outside the Hong Kong government offices…to clean up the rubbish. To sort out recyclables and unused materials, and clean up the rubbish. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/uPRcs0SLJ5 — Mary Hui (@maryhui) June 13, 2019

2am in the morning, young Hong Kong protesters volunteering to pick up the trash after all the chaos. That, is the quality of our people.#HongKong pic.twitter.com/057coxzpw9 — Denise Ho (HOCC) (@hoccgoomusic) June 12, 2019

#HongKong student Cherry Chan was among the #ExtraditionBill protesters outside the government headquarters on Wednesday. She was there on Thursday again – but to clear rubbish https://t.co/1jW6fjZPx3 pic.twitter.com/MCc5XIbcay — RTHK English News (@rthk_enews) June 13, 2019

VIDEO: A day after the worst political unrest since Hong Kong was handed to China in 1997, the city's youths are out to clear rubbish on the streets of the city pic.twitter.com/aXLvb4Zvmy — AFP news agency (@AFP) June 13, 2019

“We still have to look after the environment, and at every large-scale protest like this there’s always trash left over,” one 24-year-old woman toldCoconuts HK. “We don’t want to make lives difficult for cleaners, so we came out here to help them out and make their jobs easier.”

Another 30-year-old man told the website that he had attended the protests surrounding the Legislative Council building on Wednesday afternoon and then decided to return at 5 am on Thursday. “I thought there would still be people here, so I brought some water and protective gear, but then I turned up and there was no one here!” he said. “But I saw it was a mess so I thought I might as well help clean up.”