China’s ambassador accused Britain of running a two-faced Hong Kong policy of feigning neutrality while covertly backing and encouraging the violent protesters who have assaulted police with petrol bombs.

In a strongly worded attack on Western policy, Liu Xiaoming said Britain and the United States were guilty of publicly supporting “extreme violent offenders” and warned they risked lifting the stone of interference “only to drop it on their own feet” if it continued to do so.

Speaking at the Chinese Embassy on Monday, he said Hong Kong was “sliding into an abyss of chaos” and accused pro-democracy protesters of subjecting local residents to a “black terror.”

He went on to say that he believed the movement, which has brought protesters onto the streets every week since June, doesn't aim to achieve democracy but Hong Kong’s independence from China and that it was being fuelled from abroad.

“External forces that have indulged and fanned violence in Hong Kong cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for the recent escalation of violence,” said Mr Liu.