Steve Vick­ers, a for­mer senior super­in­ten­dent and now head of risk man­age­ment con­sul­tan­cy SVA, said he was sad­dened by the inci­dent but defend­ed police oper­a­tions giv­en how the pro­test­ers were behaving.

“This was dri­ven by an ill-con­ceived draft law and an inflex­i­ble and arro­gant gov­ern­ment atti­tude result­ing in such anger and divi­sion,” he said. ​“The police should not be held respon­si­ble for the deci­sion to clear the pro­test­ers … any blame lies square­ly at the door of the chief executive.”