After the rapid deterioration of the overall situation in the city in the course of the previous months of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, a degree of calming of the protests occurred in December 2019. This was due to several factors. One was an initial expectation of the protesters and their supporters that the government would finally offer concessions on the Five Demands – apart from the withdrawn extradition bill – after the resounding defeat of the pro-establishment camp in the District Council Elections on 24 November, which had dealt a blow to government rhetoric about its public support. The mass protests on 8 December were largely an expression of dissatisfaction that these concessions had not been forthcoming. Another factor seen as responsible for the decrease in the size of the protests was that the arrests during the Siege of Polytechnic University had thinned the ranks of the protesters.
