My understanding was that there was some push back and political/police violence but the Chinese state largely let it play out and then within a month or two made mass arrests of the organizers.

This was a broadly supported movement, impressive in its size and unity.

The strategy Xi used was to not over emphasize the level of public support through direct confrontation - but to wipe out all resistance when the “controlled” energy of the crowd has somewhat dissipated.

Lesson for the current environment in the US: have a long term strategy tied to your goals, put very high degrees of pressure on specific state actors / functions that they cannot ignore or wait out