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Thousands of people turned out in heavy rain across Hong Kong on Sunday to denounce a ban on face masks, brought in under sweeping colonial-era emergency powers in the city government’s latest attempt to stem a four-month-old protest movement, The Guardian reports.

Instead of cowing protesters, the ban has enraged them. Crowds shouting “Hong Kong resist” and “wearing a mask is not a crime” marched through the city centre, Kowloon district and several other areas under a sea of umbrellas.

The first few hours were peaceful but in late afternoon the protests slipped into violence after police tried to disperse the crowds. They fired teargas and used rubber bullets and pepper spray; protesters responded with bricks and molotov cocktails, and vandalised businesses thought to be pro-China.

China’s military also warned protesters they could be arrested for targeting the People’s Liberation Army barracks with laser lights, the first direct interaction between China’s military and Hong Kong’s protesters, Reuters reported. They unfurled a yellow flag with the arrest warning on their roof.

Earlier on Sunday judges had refused a second attempt to get an injunction against the mask ban, but agreed to a judicial review of the chief executive Carrie Lam’s use of emergency powers. The court did not set a date but indicated it would be this month.

This is the first time in more than half a century that Hong Kong’s government has activated the emergency regulations ordinance, which gives Lam virtually unlimited power. Critics say it is unjustified, and a first step towards authoritarianism.

“We are frightened and furious. It is exactly because we are frightened that we need to come out and march,” said one protester, a graduate of the same school as Lam, carrying a school banner.

“We wanted to say she has brought shame on our school. And to remind her of our motto: ‘Live by the truth in love.’ We feel she violates it.”

Like almost everyone else at the marches, the protester wore a mask, even though that is an offence that now carries a fine and up to a year in jail. Police said they made the first arrests for violating it on Sunday.

Masks have been common at marches for months, because people fear that if they are caught on camera and identified by the authorities they could be arrested or face retaliation in the future.

On Saturday, protesters had called for a “day of rest” before Sunday’s larger protests but the city was virtually paralysed after authorities closed the entire metro system, and many banks, supermarkets and other businesses decided to shut for the day.

The protests were originally sparked by an extradition bill that would have allowed people to be sent for trial in mainland China, but have swelled into a much broader movement with goals including greater democracy and an independent investigation of police brutality.