June 14, 2019, 02:46 AM 
On Wednesday, June 12, the vicinity outside Hong Kong’s parliament building witnessed the worst violence the city has seen in decades.
Young people, many barely out of their teens, poured into the streets to conduct peaceful protests before proceedings descended into violence as clashes with the police erupted.
In the wee hours of Thursday morning, they returned to the scene to tidy up.
Clean up the city
Photos and videos have been shared online showing groups of young people picking up rubbish left behind by demonstrators fleeing from tear gas and rubber bullets fired by police.
“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 said.
“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 said he had attended the protests surrounding the Legislative Council building on Wednesday afternoon.
He then decided to return at 5am 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.”
Another university student, Cherry Chan, 21, separately said: "I am just trying to fulfil my civic responsibility."
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
https://twitter.com/MaggieHo20/status/1139020458844598273
2am in the morning, young Hong Kong protesters volunteering to pick up the trash after all the chaos.
— Denise Ho (HOCC) (@hoccgoomusic) June 12, 2019
That, is the quality of our people.#HongKong pic.twitter.com/057coxzpw9
#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
Acts of kindness in the midst of protests have not gone unnoticed
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