Residents of Hong Kong increasingly caught in fray of protests

HONG KONG — After the protesters evacuated, the residents took their place.

In one Hong Kong neighborhood Saturday, riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas, prompting demonstrators to flee after they started a fire outside a police station and threw eggs at its exterior. But while the pro-democracy protesters left to occupy yet another district, the residents who were watching from the sidelines descended by the hundreds.

They watched as officers grabbed a woman who was wearing neither a black shirt nor a mask — the telltale attire of a protester. The crowd surrounded the police and yelled: “Let her go! Let her go!”

More than two months of mass demonstrations in Hong Kong have given way to routine clashes between protesters and police. As protesters lead police from neighborhood to neighborhood, leaving hastily constructed road blocks in their wake, residents across the districts have increasingly been caught in the fray.

Not all are supportive of the movement, which began in June against an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to the mainland to stand trial. It has since morphed into calls for broader democratic reforms and violent acts of defiance against the police, who in turn have been accused of excessive force and deliberate negligence.

“I support them, though I don’t agree with all their methods,” Annie Chan, a 51-year-old accountant, said at a shopping plaza that protesters briefly occupied. “Most of us middle-aged people understand that the younger generation feels helpless.”

Police said they used tear gas on Saturday to disperse protesters who blocked roads and one major cross-harbor tunnel. Following a pattern established in past weekends, the demonstrations continued into the night despite police refusal to grant permission for the public...