Before
protests erupted across her Hong Kong hometown five months ago, 31-year-old Pino was a dancer, taking various types of evening classes for years, from jazz to hip-hop and pole.
Once a week, Pino joins a self-defense class where instructors give lessons on how to fight
police, evade arrest, and navigate the unrest on the streets of the Asian financial hub.
The rallies have been marred by violence which flares mostly during weekends, with demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails, destroying shops seen as pro-Beijing, vandalizing train stations and engaging in running battles with police.