The humble brolly has been a symbol of resistance in Hong Kong since 2014, when the city’s pro-democracy protests became known as the Umbrella Movement. Now, Hong Kong’s police force has labeled umbrellas as weapons, and Chinese e-commerce sites like Taobao and AliExpress no longer sell them to customers in Hong Kong.

“I tried to purchase umbrellas and I just can’t” on those platforms, said Kelvin Yeung, a 22-year-old university student who has participated in about half of the marches this summer. “I cannot put it into my basket if the destination is Hong Kong.”

Over the past 100-plus days, protesters have demonstrated dozens of ways to use umbrellas that have nothing to do with rain. Here are just a handful of examples, as well as what some protesters have to say about them. Many declined to give their full name for fear of punishment, and none are pictured.

A Symbol of Resistance

What protesters are saying:

“The umbrella has been a symbol since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, and we use it to protect ourselves. But it gives us power. We stand at the back, but we can donate it to the front. We pass the power to them.”
—Elsa Chan, 30, retail marketing

“The umbrella is very useful in those protests, protecting the people behind you, and absolutely, it’s a symbol.” —K, 24

“It covers our faces because there are many people taking photos of us and sending to the Communist Party, so this umbrella protects our privacy. There are cameras outside the police headquarters, so we want to shield our identity.” –Elsa Chan, 30, retail marketing

“There are some cameras set up to take photos, and we are scared some of them are to spy. Or some people from different perspectives who want to know who we are—to take photos of our face or body features—so they can catch us, because this march is technically illegal to take place.” –Aidon, 18, university student

“When police show up, they use umbrellas against pepper spray, and when rubber bullets start to shoot against us it can help to protect ourselves. So there’s less damage to us.” –Aidon, 18, university student

“We are not going to fight the police, but they keep throwing some tear gas, and also the rubber bullets to us, so we have nothing to defend ourselves.” –Alvin, 20, university student

“They start to use upgraded forces and we are forced to upgrade our forces as well to protect ourselves. We don’t want to get caught.” –Aidon, 18, university student

“The police call it a weapon, but I don’t think it’s a weapon. It’s just an umbrella....It’s different from the police, they’ve got armor all over their body. You just can’t compare with them.” —Kelvin Yeung, 22, university student

“I don’t want to use violent forces against police, but sometimes it’s necessary to protect ourselves from getting arrested.” –Aidon, 18, university student

“If you compare the umbrella with the weapon the others are using to attack us, the umbrella is nothing for that. Actually, umbrellas are really easily broken and we only use it to protect ourselves.” —Wong, 30, media