Avon and Somerset Police have explained why officers didn't stop protesters who toppled a statue of Edward Colston and then pushed it into the Harbour.
Supt Andy Bennett said arresting protesters on the spot would have caused more disorder and disruption during the protest.
He also said he understood the frustration and anger many Bristolians have felt towards the statue over the years.
He told the BBC: "We know that it has been an historical figure that has caused the black community quite a lot of angst over the last couple of years.
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"So whilst I'm disappointed people would damage one of our statues, I do understand why it has happened, it is very symbolic.
"You might wander why we didn't intervene and why we just allowed people to put it into the docks.
"We made a very tactical decision that to stop people from doing that act may have caused further disorder and we decided the safest thing to do in terms of our policing tactics was to allow it to take place."
However questions have been raised by some people that the statue should have been protected.
In response, Supt Andy Bennett told the BBC: "Our policing style from the outset was low key, we were not able to get to the statue in time to protect it and once it had been toppled there was clearly a pre-planned attempt to bring that down, they had the ropes and they had the right tools.
"So once it was down we made the right decision which was just to allow it to happen because what we did not want is tension.
"I understand why people think we should have intervened and challenged but this was a very difficult policing operation, there's a lot of context that sits around it and I believe we did the right thing."
