Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor sought to reach out to young people on Monday, a day after unprecedented violence shocked the city as police vowed to match escalating force with a proportionate response.

Lam, accompanied by education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and home affairs chief Lau Kong-wah, held a closed-door meeting in the afternoon with about 20 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who did not appear to have any political affiliations.

A source who attended the meeting said it was initiated by Beijing’s liaison office. Lam spent an hour at Youth Square in Chai Wan, while her ministers stayed for three hours. The session took place two months after university student unions rejected her offer to have a dialogue with her amid the political crisis that has engulfed the city since June.

Around the time when Lam was meeting them, police top brass defended an officer who made headlines when he fired a warning shot during the Sunday chaos in Tsuen Wan, saying at a press briefing that he acted with courage and restraint.

They also criticised protesters for using deadly weapons and acting with intent to kill one of their men who had fallen to the ground in the fierce melee.

Late on Monday, a group of protesters gathered in Sham Shui Po and shone laser pointers at the police station but were quickly dispersed by officers in riot gear.

Since June, Hong Kong has been roiled by protests sparked by the government’s now-abandoned plans to pass a bill that would allow criminal extraditions to mainland China. Even though Lam has declared the bill “dead”, defiant protesters have raised five main demands, including the formal withdrawal of the legislation and an independent judge-led inquiry into police actions.

According to a source at the meeting, some attendees told Lam it was not necessary for her to satisfy the five demands all at once. But Lam could consider completely withdrawing the bill first and establishing the independent inquiry, they told the chief executive.

Lam responded that it would be difficult to completely withdraw the bill but stopped short of elaborating on the reasons, the source said. She also said the police had already been under huge pressure from the protesters’ accusations of excessive use of force.

According to one attendee, Casper Wong Chun-long, deputy chairman of centrist group Third Way, Lam was mostly listening and taking notes at the meeting.

“She said, ‘I fully accept all your views and criticisms’,” Wong said.