Hong Kong was blanketed in Tear Gas during the Cat-&-Mouse Clashes Between Police & Protesters

Hong Kong jeweler Jun Lam has already closed one shop. His remaining outlet sits in an almost deserted shopping mall at the heart of a district regularly hit by sometimes violent protests that have rocked the Chinese-ruled city since June.

Restaurants, hotels and retail outlets like Lam’s, many of which cater to mostly mainland Chinese tourists, form a central pillar of a small business sector that employs more than one million people in the city.

But with visitors deterred by months of violence, many firms have closed or are struggling to turn a profit.

“It’s only a third of the pedestrian flow compared with the past. On some days, almost no shops were open in this mall,” Lam said. To stay afloat, he has closed his other store in the New Territories district of Tseun Wan, the site of some violent demonstrations between protesters and police.

When Reuters visited The Capital shopping mall, where Lam’s remaining shop sits, almost half the units were closed or emptied.

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