HONG KONG—As images of demonstrators pounding at the glass walls of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council were beamed live to the world, with the notable exception of mainland China, police inside suddenly withdrew, allowing protesters to break in and vandalize the place.
The tactic mystified former Hong Kong police officers as they watched coverage of hundreds of protesters, mostly students in hard hats and masks, roaming the plush, multistory complex, vandalizing furniture, and daubing graffiti over the walls.
