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Dozens of soldiers dressed in black shorts and khaki t-shirts briefly helped clear the barricades of brick and debris on Saturday. Kris Cheng / HKFP / AFP

For the first time since the protests began, soldiers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) left their barracks on Saturday, November 16 in Hong Kong. This intervention was intended to clear the roads of the dams abandoned by the protesters. A way also for the Chinese army to recall its presence on the island.

With our special correspondent in Hong Kong, Stéphane Lagarde

Soldiers of the People's Army at a run, bucket and broom in hand. The images broadcast by the Hong Kong media soon made the rounds of mobile phones. This is the first time in more than five months of protest that Chinese soldiers intervene publicly.

It's around 4 pm this Saturday, men in black shorts and khaki T-shirts are coming out of their barracks in Kwoloon Tong, one of the city's most expensive residential districts, and heading for Hong Baptist University. Kong.

Like other campuses occupied by students in recent days, the street on the edge of the school is crowded with obstacles. The soldiers pick up the bricks, clear objects on the road accompanied by a cameraman.

► See also: Hong Kong: Hundreds of pro-democracy students occupy Polytechnic University

Some onlookers applaud, others laugh, before the soldiers are joined by firefighters and riot police.

" We have come here voluntarily to stop the violence, and putting an end to chaos is our responsibility, " says one of them, older, paraphrasing Chinese President Xi Jinping. A spontaneous act of which the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong is doubtful.

The pro-democracy in Hong Kong do not see anything spontaneous in this action, but rather a disguised law enforcement operation, according to James To Kun-sun, MP for the Democratic Party quoted by the South China Morning Post . A strategy also aimed at accustoming the Hong Kong public to the exits of the Chinese army.

According to Article 9 of the Hong Kong Constitution, garrisons of the People's Liberation Army shall not interfere in local affairs. Article 11 states that the command must notify the Hong Kong Government of any military activities, such as training exercises or maneuvers.

Finally, Article 14 specifies that the APL may intervene on the executive's injunction to "maintain public order or during a humanitarian disaster". Since 1997, the Hong Kong government has never made such a request. This did not prevent the intervention of 400 Chinese soldiers in uniform last year, again on a voluntary basis, to replant the trees cut down by the typhoon Mangkhut.