Up until about half a year ago, seeing police in HK was a "yeah whatever" kind of event, and from my understanding that's how it has been since the late-1970s when the ICAC cracked down on corruption within the force. The worst they really did to annoy most people was give a fine for jay-walking.
Now, it's a "safety glasses at the ready and be on full alert because they have a habit of using pepper spray on people who answer back to them" kind of event.
Once upon a time, I thought seeing angry protestors (some of whom are fully equipped for arson) would have me more worried.
This city's gone to the dogs.[^1]
[1]: Coincidence: the HK police are currently nicknamed "dogs", because that's an offensive thing to call someone in many Chinese-language regions, and HK's becoming a police state. I don't think the protestors intended for that term to work in both languages.