Hong Kong - are the protesters losing support?

Am I detecting a change in temperature in support for the Hong Kong protesters? When they were waving union flags as an un-ironic symbol of freedom and metaphorically standing in front of the tanks, there was a groundswell of support for their courage and commitment to values we like to think we gifted our ex-colony.

However, things have turned ugly. Molotov cocktails and crossbows, violence directed at the police, beatings of those inclined to reason. In a week they’ve seemingly gone from victims to Boxers, to the extent that my sympathies have actually shifted to the beleaguered police and even to China’s (puppet?) ruler Carrie Lam, struggling both to restore control and keep the PLA out.

Or are the protesters just ramping up their response to a more aggressive and violent police tactics? In any event, this is becoming, in my perception, a shades of grey thing.

Maybe Peking has learned a thing or two since Tiananmen Square – now thirty years ago.