No one saw this coming: minutes after the face mask ban (announced around 3pm and which goes into effect at midnight — just under 2 hours now), protests started in almost every inhabited area of the city.
Includes torching train stations, smashing Bank of China ATMs (apparently one of the branches has been set on fire as well), and vandalising any offices or restaurants proven to show loyalty to China.
Because, of course, it is the grand finale: the last protest where they can't be charged for wearing face masks. So they're making it big. I won't be surprised if half the city is charred by tomorrow morning.
Some supermarkets are already out of food and the ATMs in the main business district this afternoon had all run out of money, according to my colleagues.
On a more worrying note, doctors and lawyers are taking serious issue with the mask ban: it has serious implications for personal privacy and for sick people/those with weaker immune systems.