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HONG KONG Twenty-one-year-old student Choi doesnt tell his parents when he heads off to join the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Its simply not worth the aggravation.

We had a few discussions, but it never ended well, he said, using only one name to avoid more trouble with his family. We avoid talking about it now. Lots of my friends have a bad situation at home as well."

These days the Chinese territory of Hong Kong seems full of divisions. There is a generational divide between young people who support the protests and older people who dont; there are tensions between Hong Kong and the government of China and between the peoples of Hong Kong and mainland China. There are even divisions between protesters about the best way forward.

Police have used tear gas and pepper spray on the protesters, who have responded with abuse and insults thrown back at the police over the barricades.

Groups of old men turn up at the protest sites and taunt the students as traitors who are fulfilling a Western agenda to bring China down; pro-democracy protesters jeer at their opponents as agents of the Beijing government, betraying Hong Kongs unique values and Cantonese-speaking identity.

This once apolitical enclave has suddenly become a polarized place, and not everybody is comfortable with the change.

I have lived in Hong Kong since 1948 and I cant remember a single issue that has so divided society, said Anson Chan, the 74-year old former chief secretary of the territory who has joined those calling for democracy. Even within my family there are such strongly held views.

There is growing talk that Hong Kong police will soon move in to clear the protest sites. But whenever and however the protests end, the legacy of polarization, recrimination and retaliation is likely to endure far longer.

Public relations director Davis Man laments that there is little room left for people in the middle, who he says now get pressure from both sides.

Man says he appreciates the students for fighting for what they believe in, but he argues that the occupation has gone on too long. Leaders on both sides, he says, seem to have little interest in cooling down the situation.

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Hong Kong wrestles with growing polarization