Hong Kong left deeply divided after democracy protests, analysts say
With the world watching, Hong Kong was transformed from a slick financial hub into a hive of political activism in late September as tens of thousands took to the streets in support of the student-led protests calling for free leadership elections in 2017.
It was the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since the territory was handed over by Britain to China in 1997, and ignited fierce debate about Hong Kong's future.
Activists occupied major traffic arteries in the wake of China's declaration in August that candidates for the city's chief executive would first be vetted by a loyalist committee, a move campaigners said would see a pro-Beijing stooge take power.
The struggle to reconcile the Western ideals of its colonial heritage with Chinese rule has long fomented an underlying division but the protests have cracked the city in two, say analysts.
"The polarisation that we've had is now a much more passionate polarisation and a much more volatile one," Michael DeGolyer of Hong Kong Baptist University told AFP.
While the pro-democracy movement has seen the political awakening of the city's younger generation, it has also inflamed the pro-government camp, DeGolyer says.
"The vociferous, extreme passion of the opponents has clearly been sparked."
Opponents of the movement held their own rallies throughout the protests and voiced fears over the threat to Hong Kong's stability and prosperity a line adopted by the city's leadership and Beijing.
The split extends beyond politics and into the fabric of society, said Sonny Lo, an analyst at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
"Society has been deeply divided among families, between friends, between political parties, so the movement has had a destabilising impact," he told AFP.
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Hong Kong left deeply divided after democracy protests, analysts say