The emblem of the Beijing's representative office in Hong Kong is now protected by plexiglass after protesters vandalised it on Sunday, July 21.

Congruent with Hong Kong's Internet culture, the new addition has sparked even more memes.

The national emblem protection glass has updated with wipers ！ HK mobs，you suck now😜
网传国徽保护套又升级了雨刮器！#有图为证 pic.twitter.com/ah5SApo5C7

— 巴丢草 Badiucao (@badiucao) July 28, 2019

Defacement underlies deep resentment towards Beijing

During the march, where thousands of Hongkongers rallied on the streets, some pelted eggs at the walls of the liaison office, while others spray-painted graffiti.

The liaison office and its emblem are symbols representing the Chinese Communist Party and central government.

Its vandalism reflects a deeper resentment among the Hong Kong people towards Beijing and what they see as its encroaching influence.

Wrong move

But critics say the defacement of the emblem gives Beijing ammunition to present the mass protests in Hong Kong as a foreign plot -- a narrative they have repeated multiple times, along with the "lawlessness" of Hong Kong.

Still, the protesters stopped short of storming the liaison office itself, unlike what they did to Hong Kong's Legislative Council building, with one protester telling Reuters that would be the "death of Hong Kong".

Beijing could send the People's Liberation Army into Hong Kong at the request of the Hong Kong government to contain the protests.

In Beijing's most explicit warning so far, Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defence said on July 24 the military "could be called in if the Hong Kong police were unable to maintain order".

"Some behaviour of the radical protesters is challenging the authority of the central government and the bottom line of one country, two systems," he said.

"This is intolerable."

Eighth week of protests

Hong Kong is now in its eighth consecutive weekend of protests, following the first large-scale rally in response to the extradition bill that is now declared "dead" by Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

The most recent round of protests saw thousands take to the streets of Hong Kong Island on Sunday, July 28, to protest against what they say is police brutality against peaceful marchers.

The police were criticised yet again for charging at protesters in a train station at Yuen Long at a time when they were preparing to leave on Saturday, July 27.

The rally in Yuen Long was against the mob attack a week before.

In response, the Hong Kong police said in a statement on July 27 that the demonstration had been an “unauthorised assembly”, and condemned the front-line protesters for throwing bricks and other “hard objects” at them.

Top image via ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images