There was an uneasy calm in Sheung Wan by the early hours of Monday morning, after a night of violence which saw riot police firing rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters as the two sides engaged in fierce clashes.

Police had fired several rounds of tear gas at first, but failed to disperse the crowd who threw bricks and other objects at officers.

Some demonstrators picked up the tear gas canisters and threw them back at the police.

The police came face to face with hundreds of protesters near the Shun Tak Centre at around 10pm, almost two hours after the force announced a clearance operation following vandalism at Beijing's liaison office.

But the stand-off continued an hour later, prompting the police to raise the orange warning flag and to fire rubber bullets at protesters.

Most of the protesters then withdrew towards the Rumsey Street car park, where some people lit a fire using some debris.

By 11.30pm, most of the protesters had started dispersing, but a few remained on the scene.

A large number of riot police officers also remained near the Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan.

The atmosphere was generally calm and the traffic on Connaught Road Central also partially resumed after 1am.

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Last updated: 2019-07-22 HKT 02:01