They trashed and burned shops, bank outlets and metro stations, forced the closure of the city’s entire railway network and blocked roads, wearing masks in open defiance of the new law.
Police, who were expecting a backlash, were not seen at many flash points for hours as radical protesters went on the rampage.
Police began taking control later at night, firing tear gas at violent mobs on both sides of the harbour, from Wong Tai Sin, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan to Causeway Bay and Aberdeen.
Even as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the ban from government headquarters at Tamar in the afternoon, the chaos was already brewing just blocks away.
