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Hong Kong police officers doused the Kowloon Mosque in blue dye on October 20, along with a small group standing outside it who had come to “protect to Mosque”, according to Legislative Council member Jeremy Tam.

Tam was one of the group on the receiving end of the water cannon, and livestreamed the incident on his Facebook page. He told the Washington Post, “we came here to protect the mosque against protesters but it was the police that did this.” His video shows several older individuals covered in the dye, and their attempts to remove it.

“The Hong Kong Police Force said on Twitter that protesters gathering at Tsim Sha Tsui were blocking carriageways in Nathan Road, participating “in an unauthorized assembly,” and were requested to leave.

At Tsim Sha Tsui police station, officers fired tear gas towards protesters, in an attempt to clear the area. Police said on Twitter that the use of tear gas was the “minimum force necessary” to counter protesters.

As the standoff continued, protesters hurled petrol bombs at Tsim Sha Tsui police station, and police called up a water cannon, referred to by the force’s Twitter account as “a specialised crowd management” vehicle. Credit: Jeremy Tam via Storyful