Steve Vick­ers, a for­mer com­man­der of the Roy­al Hong Kong Police Crim­i­nal Intel­li­gence Bureau who now runs a risk con­sul­tan­cy, said while the police had dis­played extra­or­di­nary restraint, their tac­tics were ​“sus­pect”.

“Few world gov­ern­ments would have capit­u­lat­ed on such a scale and hand­ed the de fac­to par­lia­ment build­ing to agi­ta­tors and hard-core demon­stra­tors under such cir­cum­stances,” Vick­ers said. ​“It must always be remem­bered that in the unlike­ly event of the police being per­ceived as not hold­ing the line, that the only alter­na­tive would be direct main­land intervention.”