By David Lague & Ann Marie Roantree @ Reuters.com, July 2

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 ransack 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, multistorey complex, vandalizing furniture and daubing graffiti over the walls. The demonstrators broke computers, spray-painted slurs against police on chamber walls and used road signs, scaffolding and metal poles to trash fittings.

“What were they thinking when they decided to let them into the Legislative Council?” asked Chris Pedder, a retired 22-year veteran of the Hong Kong police who now works as a counter terrorism and security consultant [....]