Why in the world would he want to do that?
Although there is no evidence, it would make perfect sense.
Send one's forces to destroy priceless artifacts that are loved by your country's citizens. Then proceed to blame it on the demonstrations and those forces who have been causing trouble. In this case, the Pro-Democracy people. With the excuse of protecting national security and protecting the country's artifacts, cracking down on the citizens and taking away civil liberties.
Tl;dr: Manufacture a crisis in order to exploit it to take away civil liberties and destroy the demonstrators. Plus, get public opinion on your side.