Their nasty homemade hardware is the subject of a series of portraits by photographer Tom Jamieson. They suggest how determined protesters were to deal damage to–or defend themselves from, depending on your politics–government security forces.

While other photographers scrambled to shoot the epic scenes playing out at the front line, Jamieson wandered the occupied zone asking to see what protesters were packing.

"Every single person without fail had a club or a bat or something like that," says Jamieson. "You couldn't help but notice the DIY nature of the whole thing, from the barricades themselves to the totally inadequate body armor that people were wearing, and the weapons as well. It looked like something out of Mad Max, it was crazy."