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Over four balmy nights outside Hong Kong's main government building, 28-year-old Freeman Leung sat on the ground among fellow Christians and sang a hymn over and over.
It was the same hymn that Christians in the Chinese territory had been singing for the past two weeks.
Sometimes they were joined by non-believers at protest rallies both large and small.
"Christians started turning up at protests to sing 'Sing Hallelujah To The Lord' in case there was the chance of violence when police wanted to disperse protesters," Mr Leung said.
"But once they started singing, everyone became calm."
Hong Kong's recent protests have waxed and waned between extraordinary street marches of up to 2 million people and days where barely 100 people turned up.
But throughout it all, the same 1970s American Easter hymn has been resonating through the demonstration sites.
The unlikely protest anthem has even been embraced by non-religious protesters.
"It's a very simple hymn, everyone can sing it," said Edwin Chow, the chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students.
Christian groups are not taking credit for the uprising against a proposed bill which would have allowed Hong Kong citizens to be sent to mainland China for trial.
But Christian demonstrators have had a constant presence, which some other demonstrators likened to protection.
"Some non-Christians have been singing 'Hallelujah' too because in Hong Kong, a religious gathering can't be deemed by police as an illegal assembly," Mr Chow said.
"Through singing the hymn, you can see it helps protect other demonstrators."
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