From a woman waving a colonial-era flag in a shopping mall to bakery employees selling cakes with protest symbols, one man has reported dozens of people in Hong Kong to the police for what he believes are violating national security.
"We are lurking in every corner of society, watching to see if there is anything suspicious that might violate the National Security Act," Ines Tang, a former banker, tells the BBC.
"If we notice something, we go and report it to the police," he says.
When Britain returned Hong Kong to China 28 years ago, internationally binding agreements guaranteed the city's rights and freedoms for the next 50 years.
But the national security law, which Beijing imposed a year after mass pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong 2019, has been criticized for stifling freedom of speech and the press, as well as for introducing a new culture of whistleblowing.
The law criminalizes activities considered calls for "secession" (separation from China), "subversion" (undermining the power or authority of the government), and collusion with foreign powers.
Last year, an additional security law, called Article 23, was passed, introducing new restrictions.
With the new laws and arrests, little has been written about Hong Kong's pro-China "patriots" - the people who now run and control the city, as well as the ordinary citizens who openly support them.
But the BBC spent several weeks interviewing Ines Tango (60), a prominent self-proclaimed patriot.
He and his volunteers take screenshots of any social media activity or comments they believe might violate national security law.
He also opened a tip line and urged followers on social media to share information about people around them.
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Tang says he and his followers have reported nearly 100 individuals and organizations to the authorities.
"Does reporting work? We wouldn't be doing it if it didn't."
"The police have opened cases against many, and some have received prison sentences," he adds.
Tang says he did not personally investigate people who allegedly broke the law, but simply reported incidents he felt deserved closer attention, describing it as "proper cooperation between the community and the police."
He is not the only so-called patriot who has engaged in this kind of surveillance.
The Hong Kong authorities themselves have opened a national security hotline.
They received 890.000 reports between November 2020 and February 2025, the city's security bureau told the BBC.
The pressure can be relentless for people who have been reported to the authorities.
Since the national security law came into effect in 2020, until February 2025, more than 300 people have been arrested for endangering national security.
It is estimated that 300.000 residents have permanently left the city in recent years.
Pong Yat Ming, the owner of an independent bookstore that organizes public lectures, says he often receives inspections from government secretariats citing "anonymous complaints," sometimes as many as 10 times in 15 days.
Kenneth Chan, a political scientist and university professor who has been involved in the city's pro-democracy movement since the 1990s, jokes that he has become "a little radioactive these days."
Kenneth Chan says some friends, students and colleagues are now avoiding him because of his views.
"But I'm the last person in the world to blame the victims, it's the system's fault," he says.
In response, the Hong Kong government stated that it "attaches great importance to preserving academic freedom and institutional autonomy."
But they add that academic institutions "have a responsibility to ensure that their activities comply with the law and serve the interests of the wider community."
Ines Tang says his love for Hong Kong motivates him to report people and that his views on China were formed when he was young, when the city was still a British colony.
"Colonial politics weren't great."
"The British always got the best opportunities, and we locals had no access to anything," he says.
Like many of his generation, he longed to unite with China and escape colonial rule.
But he says many other residents in Hong Kong at the time were more concerned about their livelihoods than their rights.
"Democracy or freedom."
"These were all very abstract ideas that we didn't really understand," he says.
The average citizen should not get too involved in politics, he adds.
He says he only became politically active to restore "balance" to Hong Kong society after the turmoil of 2019.
He gives voice, he says, to the "silent majority" who do not support independence from China, nor the unrest caused by the protesters.
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But other Hong Kong residents consider rallies and demonstrations a long-standing tradition, and one of the few ways to express public opinion in a city that now lacks fully democratically elected leadership.
"We're not a protest city anymore. What are we? I don't have the answer to that yet," says Kenneth Chan, who specializes in Eastern European politics.
And patriotism is not in itself a negative thing, he adds.
It is a "value, perhaps even a virtue," he argues, although citizens should maintain a "critical distance," which is not happening in Hong Kong.
Electoral reforms were rushed through in 2021, stating that only "patriots" who had "pledge loyalty to the Communist Party of China" could hold important positions in the government or the Legislative Council - Hong Kong's parliament.
As a result, the council has trouble functioning, according to Lu Mon Hung, a Hong Kong-based Chinese commentator and former member of the Chinese government's advisory body (CPPCC).
"The public thinks that most of these patriots are 'verbal revolutionaries' or political opportunists - they don't actually represent the people."
"That's why absurd policies continue to pass with overwhelming majorities."
"There is no one to limit or oppose, no one to criticize," he says.
Even patriot Ines Tang says she wants to see a change in the current system.
"I don't want every law to pass with 90 percent of the vote," he added to the BBC.
There is a danger that the national security law could be used as a weapon, he adds.
He states that people can say: "If you disagree with me, I accuse you of violating national security laws."
"I don't agree with things like that," Tang says.
The Hong Kong government said: "The enhanced Legislative Council is now free of extremists who seek to obstruct and even paralyze the work of the government without any intention of engaging in constructive dialogue to represent the interests of the Hong Kong people."
He has stopped reporting people for now, Tang says.
Balance and stability, he believes, have returned to Hong Kong.
The number of mass protests has practically dropped to zero.
In academia, fear of surveillance - and how life could change for someone who breaks the law - means that self-censorship and censorship have become prevalent, says Kenneth Chan.
Pro-democracy parties are no longer represented in the Legislative Council, and many have disbanded, including the Hong Kong Democratic Party, once the most powerful party.
Ines Tang now wants to work abroad.
"There are no specific problems in Hong Kong right now, so I asked myself, 'Shouldn't I be looking at how I can serve my own community and country?'"
"For someone who is not a politician, but a civilian, this is an invaluable opportunity," he says.
He now works as a representative for one of several Beijing-based nonprofit organizations, regularly visiting the United Nations in Geneva to speak at conventions that provide a Chinese perspective on Hong Kong, human rights and other issues.
Tang is also in the process of establishing a media company in Switzerland and registering as a journalist.
For Kenneth Chan in Hong Kong, the future hangs in the balance.
"A third of my friends and students are now in exile, another third are in prison, and I am in a kind of limbo."
"I speak freely with you today, but no one can promise me that I will continue to do so for the rest of my life," he says.
National security is a top priority and a guaranteed right for every country, a Hong Kong government spokesperson said in a written response to the BBC.
It only "persecutes an extremely small minority of people and organizations that pose a threat to national security, while at the same time protecting lives and property."
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