[1967 riots paper clippings] 12-15 May 1967 (English)

SCMP, 12 May 1967

Top picture shows steel-helmeted police facing a crowd in Sanpokong yesterday. A youth is seen in the process of throwing a missile at the police. At centre left, a man with his wrists manacled is led away by two armed policemen while the man's wife at right weeps. Bottom left — police tear down posters put up by the demonstrators. The four large Chinese characters are translated as “Blood debt must be paid by blood”. Following the disturbances in Sanpokong, a curfew was imposed.

Disturbances at Sanpokong
About Twenty Injured And Ninety Arrested

- CURFEW IMPOSED –

Just 13 months after last year’s riots, part of Kowloon was once more under a curfew order last night following clashes between steel-helmeted riot police and mobs of both workers and teenagers in Sanpokong. 

The disturbances arose from left-wing demonstrations outside the Hongkong Artificial Flowers Factory in Tai Yau Street where a labour dispute has been in progress for about two weeks. 

Up till midnight, 90 people had to be arrested and 11 people and several policemen were injured.  The police throughout respond rid of a variety were stoned with a variety of objects from roof-tops and most of their casualties were caused by broken glass. 

The demonstrators throughout chanted and shouted the quotations of Mr Mao Tse-tung and held aloft the little red book containing them. 

- Effective –

Mr E. C. Eates, the Acting Commissioner of Police, announced at 11.45 pm that the situation at Sanpokong and at the Tung Tau Resettlement estate, where violence broke out later in the evening, had returned to normal. 

The curfew was effective and most of the police units sent to the areas were being withdrawn, Mr Eates said.  More than 600 riot police had been called out. 

But shortly after midnight a report was received that some people were burning vehicles in Carpenter Road near Choi Hung Road. 

Police went to investigate and found one private car and one goods vehicle were alight.  However, there were no people at the scene.

At one stage in the evening, a fire engine sent to a fire started by demonstrators in Choi Hung Road was forced to withdraw when a crowd attacked it with bottles and stones.

- Girl Hit –

Police said they had fired in all 70 wooden projectiles and 5o tear-gas shells to disperse demonstrators. 

Among the civilian casualties was a girl who was reported to have been hit on the knee by a wooded projectile.  Police said the projectiles were non-lethal wooden sticks especially designed for this sort of crowd dispersal use. 

Seven of the people who were arrested and taken to Wongtaisin Police Station request medical attention and were sent to hospital. 

Two reporters, one a Chinese and the other a European, who were reported to have been assaulted at Tung Tau estate were later said to be safe. 

Radio Hongkong, Commercial Radio and Rediffusion TV’s sound service remained open throughout the night to keep residents informed of the situation. 

The curfew went into effect at 9.30 pm and although calm was reported elsewhere, violence continued at the Tung Tau estate. 

Police fired tear-gas shells to disperse the crowd which had gathered.  Bottles rained down on the police from roof-tops and one policeman was reported to have been badly cut. 

The three main zones of violence during the day and night were at both ends of Tai Yau Street and at the Tung Tau estate. 

A group of more than 100 workers arrived in groups at the factory shortly after noon and quickly posted more posters on its outside wall. 

The poster, including several banner headlines streaming across the windows and doors, contained strong political views with little relevance to the original labour-management dispute that started the trouble. 

- Posters –

One poster condemned the “British authorities in Hongkong” for exerting force to suppress the labourers into their dispute. 

It demanded that a “blood debt must be repaid with blood.”

For the first time also, the name of America was mentioned.  A poster, quoting the “highest authority,” advised the “Hongkong authority” that it must not follow the footsteps of Macao and that they must not act as the “stooge of the American imperialist.”

Then the workers settled down to singing songs, reciting Mr Mao’s works and shouting slogans. 

During a marathon demonstration which lasted till after the arrival of the police, many groups from leftist organisations paid visits to the workers to express their sympathy. 

While there, they joined into singing and shouting.  The visitors themselves brought along more posters to put on the wall. 

Police arrives at the scene about 3pm after the factory management report that the demonstrators were shaking the gates. 

Top picture shows a large crowd on the run as police make a baton-charge during yesterday’s disturbances at Sanpokong.  In another incident police fire wooden projectiles at the feet of demonstrators who hacked locked arms in an attempt to stop a police patrol from converging on the area (Centre).  Above, a man being led away by police as workers nonchalantly sip their drinks at a roadside café.

SANPOKONG DISTURBANCES

The police party was 40-strong, but it was eventually reinforced with a company of about 125 policemen, with another company standing in reserve. 

The police sent 15 minutes urging the crowd to disperse, but to no avail. 

Many school students, wearing Mao badges in their lapels, who were visiting the workers, defied the police by linking arms and forming a human chain. 

More warnings to disperse were given by the police and they then fired wooden projectiles.  The chain broke up.

The police then turned their attention to the workers.  They reasoned with them and talked to a representative of the group. Soon the workers dispersed and left the position which they had occupied for three and half hours in groups of five or six. 

But at the end of the streets, crowds that had gathered jeered the police and attacked them with stones.  As the police moved to disperse them, men who were working in the flatted factories, threw bottles and iron weight blocks from the windows. 

Several policemen were lucky not to be hit.

Meanwhile, after the workers had left their position, labourers from the factory, under police escort, removed the posters and cleaned the wall. 

Police fanned out to disperse the crowd which had gathered around the ends of the main road.  They fired wooden projectiles when the crowd moved close and threw stones. 

Twenty-one arrests were made during this time.

- Scattered –

In Shung Ling Street, shortly after 5 pm, a crowd of about 1000 people scattered, bumping into one another and leaving the street littered with shoes and slippers, as two rows of police made a baton charge. 

As a police moved along the street, many of the crowd rushed into a Chinese Products emporium, knocking over many goods on display.  After the police had passed the emporium started to close its doors. 

The police continued to warn the crowd through loud hailers that they should disperse.  When these warnings were ignored the police fired a number of non-lethal wooden projectiles from gas guns. 

As the police continued along the street, followed by a wire-netted vehicles, numerous objects, including bottles, bricks, stones, and even fruit peelings, rained upon them. 

Many of the bottles were thrown from the top of factories in the street. 

From the outset it appeared that the demonstrators, most of whom were teenagers, were playing “hide and seek” with the riot police.  They should slowly disperse from one street only to reappear at another street junction nearby. 

The Wongtaisin Police Station’s riot squad which was dealing with the disturbances in this area had been reinforced with a platoon from the Kowloon Emergency Unit. 

Large crowds were grouped in the eastern and of Tai Yau Street and to thwart them a police party held the street’s junction with Pat Tat Street for about 2 hours. 

As the police moved down the street the crowds would fall back but when the police pulled back to the junction, which they did not want to abandon, the shouting crowds surged forward again.  The police were heavily stoned. 

Eventually, the police warned the crowds several times to disperse and then moved in with batons and fired more wooden projectiles.  Several people were arrested. 

The crowds dispersed, but gathered again in Choi Hung Road, causing traffic jams at the roundabout junction with Prince Edward Road.  Extra traffic policemen were sent to the scene to cope with the situation. 

A team of foreign correspondents and local reporters were also attacked with bottles and stones as they followed the police party. But no-one was injured. 

About 6 pm, a senior police officer asked members of the local press to leave his zone but allowed the foreign correspondents to stay. 

When asked why this was so, the officer told a reporter that the correspondents were foreigners and had asked for police protection.  They later left the scene in police vehicles. 

- Baton Charges –

Police cordoned off most of side streets, but had to make several baton charges to clear crowds at the factory end of Tai Yau Street in the face of a steady stream of objects. 

One man who was injured in the baton charge asked that photographs be taken of his wounds.  Blood streamed from his face, soaking his white shirt. 

A woman carrying a baby said her 27-year-old husband who had been selling vegetables in the area had been arrested.  She said he had merely seen people running and had ran away too but was caught by the police.

Some people who were on the roof-tops were also arrested. 

Shops in the area quickly closed as the violence broke out. 

An English afternoon newspaper photographer was arrested when he could not produce his press card.  He was taken to a police station and was later said to have been released. 

About 7.30 pm, the place was still tense but quiet. Two helicopters, one from the Army and the other from the Hongkong Auxiliary Air Force, circled overhead and riot police patrolled the streets. 

Many workers were stranded in the factories because of the disturbance and subsequent curfew. 

With the approval of the Governor, the Commissioner of Police mobilized the Hongkong Auxiliary Police Force with effect from 7.30 pm. 

All members of the force, except for crews under training, were ordered to report to their respective divisions and/or units immediately, in uniform and with their respirators and steel helmets. 

All police leave was cancelled soon after 7 pm. 

At 8 pm it was announced that the curfew would be imposed in part of Kowloon at 9.30 pm. 

“This decision has been taken so that peace and order may be restored to those areas around Sanpokong where incidents occurred this afternoon and evening,” a Government statement said. 

The curfew covered the following districts of east Kowloon: Kowloon Tong, Kowloon Tsai, Tung Tau resettlement estate, Lofungam, Wongtaisin resettlement estate, the whole of Kowloon City, Sanpokong, Diamond Hill, Choi Hung estate and Ngauchiwan village. 

It was to remain in force until 5.30 this morning. 

Kai Tak airport remained open throughout the night.  People were advised to travel to the airport by way of Chatham Road, Tokwawan Road, Sung Wong Toi Road and Olympic Avenue. 

The disturbances were undoubtedly responsible for the jamming of some of the telephone links between Hongkong Island and Kowloon later in the evening. 

A spokesman for the Telephone Company said that most of the telephones in Kowloon beginning with the figure “8” were out of order. 

Too many people were apparently trying to dial “3”, the area number for Kowloon. 

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

NORTHERN KOWLOON IN TURMOIL:
GOVERNMENT EXPLAINS POLICE ROLE IN DISTURBANCES

A Government spokesman said yesterday it was most unfortunate that the enforcement of law by the authorities have been interpreted in some quarters as a concerted action by government against some section of the community.

The spokesman said it was even more unfortunate that Government action concerning trouble arising from industrial disputes had been associated with other unrelated incidents— such as the clearance of illegal structures — and had been presented as a concerted drive by Government against left-wing organisations in the Colony.

“The policy of Government is now, as always, to maintain the law as impartially and fairly as possible for the benefit of all, ”the spokesman said.

“Government does not take sides in industrial disputes and there is no change in this policy either.”

However, it was the duty of the Commissioner of Labour to encourage and wherever necessary to attempt to bring both sides together to resolve their differences in any industrial dispute.

“In the recent disputes, the representatives of workers and managements have in fact separately stated that they would be willing to meet but unfortunately it has not yet been possible to get agreement on meeting places acceptable to both sides, ”the spokesman said.

Some comments on the extent to which picketing might be lawfully carried out were made by the Hon R. M. Hetherington, the Commissioner of Labour, for the guidance of workers, and managements.

Mr Hetherington said that recently there had been cases of picketing which had been conducted quite properly but there had also been others which had infringed the law.

It was the manner of picketing that was important if it were to be legal, he said.

"Under the Trade Union Registration Ordinance, peaceful picketing is allowed as a legitimate means to persuade other workers to work or not to work, or of obtaining or communicating information in connection with a dispute," he said.

It was illegal to pick it if it were carried out in a manner which would endanger the public peace or to cause obstruction or a nuisance.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

JAIL TERMS FOR 33 RIOTERS

Thirty-three people, including ten youths, were sent to jail yesterday in North Kowloon Court to charges arising from the disturbances in Sanpokong on Thursday.

A total of 49 people, including 14 youths and seven boys, appeared on various charges. 

Two men, five youths and five boys pleaded not guilty to separate charges of riotous assembly and their cases will be heard this afternoon.

Prison terms ranging from three to 18 months were imposed on 14 people, including five youths, charged with riotous assembly.

Three boys who pleaded guilty to similar charges were remanded for a week for a probation officer’s report.

Ten people, including four youths, were each jailed for one month and a man was fined $50 for breaking the curfew.

A man who admitted charges of breaking the curfew and throwing bottles at a police party was jailed for 15 months.

Another man was given six months for obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest.

Six men were each jailed for six months for unlawful assembly. A 16-year-old boy was jailed for three months for disorderly conduct.

Mr F. de F. Stratton and Mr T. C. Chan were on the bench.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

Top picture could aptly be titled “Confrontation”as police riot squad units face thousands of demonstrators outside the Tung Tau resettlement estate yesterday. The two groups are separated by 20-foot wide nullah. In lower picture police disperse after firing teargas shells.

YOUTHS DEFY CURFEW

Violence Continues As Demonstrators And Police Clash

Despite an early curfew clamped down on troubled Kowloon districts last night after a day of continuing disturbance youthful demonstrators. defied the curfew order and clashed with riot police in a number of incidents during the night.

During the day there were sporadic incidents in Sanpokong and in the vicinity of Tung Tau resettlement area involving demonstrators: who were described by a police officer as “people without anything particular to do.”

Police were kept busy dealing with these incidents which, aside from throwing stones and other missiles at the police, included setting fire to property, buses, Government and private vehicles.

At press time, a total of 107 demonstrators had been arrested with 17 policemen and one demonstrator reported injured. Most of the violence occurred in the Tung Tau resettlement estate, Kowloon City, where a strong force of about 500 riot police kept threatening crowds contained amid taunts of “running dogs” and other jeers. The curfew went into force at 6 pm but police were kept busy dealing with isolated incidents throughout the curfew area including one just outside the limits.

At the Artificial Flower Works in Sanpokong, where the trouble started on Thursday, the situation was relatively quiet with the dissident workers staying away from the factory.

All schools in Kowloon will be closed again today, the Education Department announced. 

The police officer who is in charge of the troubled area said there did not appear to be any concerted effort by demonstrators to destroy particular properties — it was just plain malicious damage.

Chief Superintendent. M.C. Illingworth said over Radio Hongkong that the trouble was more of a general disturbance in which young people and onlookers who had nothing to do were stoning the police when they saw them and then attacking property when the police withdrew.

He said one of his officers had put the age of most demonstrators at between 18 and 24, on a general basis.

“A lot of children hampered police. operations because, naturally, police were reluctant to use any real force against them,” Mr. Illingworth said.

“Crowds were often gathered when police were not there and I think this is what happened in Tung Tau Tsuen Road,” he added, “We deliberately avoided trying to antagonise people in this area.”

The curfew, which was to be lifted at 4.30am, covered the same areas as: the curfew on. Thursday night — Kowloon Tong, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon City, Wongtaisin resettlement estate, Sanpokong, Diamond Hill, Choi Hung estate, Ngauchiwan village, Tsawanshan and Wangtauhom.

- Car Set On Fire-

First reports of the curfew being broken came at 6.20pm when a crowd in Tung Tau Resettlement estate set fire to a car outside Block 10 and also stoned the police party in the vicinity.

The police seemed destined to have trouble at Tung Tau throughout the night. After the police appeared the crowds, mostly young people would retreat into the estate, only to come out and cause more incidents as soon as the police withdrew.

The Hongkong Auxiliary Police Force had taken over most station guard duties at Wongtaisin. Police Station and were escorting prisoners as well. as taking injured persons to. hospital.

Early in the evening, a company of policemen encountered a group of people performing a lion dance in Tung Tau village road, near Fung Mo Street. The dancers withdrew in the Tung Tau estate.

Ten people were arrested in the area about this time for breaking the curfew Obstacles placed on the road were removed by a Police company.

- KOWLOON CURFEW DEFIED - 

About 8 pm, a crowd of 1,000 gathered in Carpenter Road just outside the Walled City. The crowd, mostly teenagers, did not appear to be hostile but police erected road blocks to prevent them from flowing into Prince Edward Road.

A lorry was set on fire in Fung Mo Road, near Lung Cheung Road, about 40 minutes later but the party of police was on the scene quickly.

The first report of an incident outside the curfew area was made at 9.20 p.m. when are used was said to be throwing stones in the area near the Matauchung fire station, Mataukok district. Police arrested three people at the scene.

- Fire Started -

Soon after, a group of people started a fire opposite the Chartered Bank in Choi Hung Road.

By 11 pm, police were investigating reports that hawker stores were on fire in Ngautaukok Road and that a car was also ablaze in Lung Cheung Road, near Lion Rock Road.

Besides these incidents, police were dealing also with a steady stream of rubbish fire reports.

Kai Tak Airport remained open by police escorted incoming passengers to their hotels after 10 pm.

Some of the passengers had to wait for half an hour for transport to the hotels.

A press party, escorted by police, last night to the curfew areas and was met by jeers and shouts of "running dogs” followed by showers of bottles and stones from a block of flats in Wangtauhom resettlement estate.

The party also came across bonfires and burning vehicles.

The party, comprising foreign correspondents and local reporters, travelling in the middle of a police convoy, had to stop abruptly on reaching the Wangtauhom block in Fung Mo Street, shortly after 10 pm.

Riot police leaped from the lorries in front and scrambled to formation before the block. They were met with stones and bottles. The police, using loudhailers, then warned the residents, mostly youths, not to throw any more stones and bottles or they would open fire.

- Effective - 

The warning was effective and the throwing ceased. However, a few minutes later, from a small amount behind the police, a group of youths hold stones but failed to reach the police all the vehicles.

When a torch was trained on them, the group scattered and dispersed. Police did not chase after them and the press group then proceeded through the streets of the various resettlement estates in the area.

During the tour, the party saw two burning lorries in an open space, a hut on fire. The members also stopped to have a look at the Resettlement Department Area Officer's quarters in Wongtaisin estate which was looted.

Earlier, in the late afternoon, reporters, photographers and foreign correspondents had to run for their lives when they were threatened by a crowd of teenagers outside the Tung Tau resettlement estate.

The pressmen, determined also to safeguard their films, raced along Choi Hung Road and took refuge behind a squad of riot police.

As the pressman were being chased, with the teenagers yelling threats, members of the staff of the nearby China State Bank shouted encouragement to the crowd and sang slogans.

Mr Chan Kiu, a S.C.M. Post photographer, was "captured" by the crowd, and some of them hit him with their fists. Staff members of the bank demanded that he hand over films which he had taken.

Mr Chan’s wrist watch was snatched and other people ran their hands through his pockets. One person took off his pair of spectacles, but returned them when he was released.

A TV photographer, Mr Paul Wong, of Rediffusion, was also "captured" by the crowds and taken into the bank where his films were demanded by bank staff. Mr Wong pointed out that he did not have a camera in his bag and that the films he was carrying was new unused rolls.

At first, the crowd maintained that they wanted the films, but a person shouted "let him go" and Mr Wong returned to the press group.

Another photographer reporter, Mr Leung Tat-choi, of the Sin Pao, was also threatened with assault by the bank staff for taking their picture.

As the bank staff emerged from the premises, police fired tear gas to disperse crowds on the opposite side of the road. 

Shops in the Kowloon areas concerned did brisk business before the curfew went into effect at 6 pm.

Residents were seen buying large amounts of food-stuffs.

However, the price of rice and other food staples remained the same in Kowloon and on Hongkong Island.

- Pak Pais -

“Pak pai” and taxi drivers took advantage of the situation to boost their incomes.

About half an hour before the curfew, they were charging $5 per passenger for a trip from Mongkok to Wongtaisin, with a minimum of three or four persons, compared to the normal meter fee of about $3.

About 50 bus drivers and conductors of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company gathered at the bus terminal in front of the Star Ferry concourse in Tsimshatsui in the morning to recite Chairman Mao Tse-tung's quotations. 

They also pasted “anti-imperialists” posters. on the backs of most of the buses. The workers, who were wearing Mao badges, mobbed an Australian cameraman when he tried to take photographs of them. He was led to safety by policemen.

A Chinese photographer and a tourist were also surrounded but were later released.

Two Americans, later identified as U.S. Marines, were pushed and assaulted by the bus workers when they took photographs of the workers.

They were eventually allowed to go after they had handed over their films.

Tsimshatsui was normal apart from the Iong queues of people waiting for transport to go home before the start of the curfew. Most offices had released their staff an hour earlier to enable them to meet the curfew deadline.

- Red Guard Uniforms - 

Two young men, dressed in Red Guard uniforms and claiming to have come from Canton with 20 colleagues, shouted Communist. slogans outside the Hongkong and Kowloon Workers Children's School in Mongkok at one stage.

However, the pair of them, led by a man on a bicycle, hurried off when several persons tried to photograph them.

Left-wing evening papers called the two Red Guards fakes. They suggested the young men might be local pro-Liu Shao-chi elements as they did not hail Mr Mao Tse-tung. Earlier in the day, a young man dressed in what looked like a blue Chinese Liberation Army uniform paraded along Tai Yau Street in Sanpokong, shouting slogans and holding up Mr Mao's quotations,

Police advised him to leave and after ten minutes’ persuasion, he did so voluntarily and quietly.

The first signs of trouble in the morning came when two large separate groups of teenagers began gathering in the Sanpokong area shortly after 10.30.

Riot squads confronted 150 youths at Tseuk Luk Street and warned the crowd to disperse. The youths replied with a barrage of stones and jeers, forcing the police to withdraw down the road.

At the junction of Shuen Ling Street and Kam Wing Street, another group of about 400 teenagers began hurling stones at the police. When police reinforcements arrived, they retreated.

Police arrested a man for throwing stones in Shuen Ling Street.

At about noon, police reported stone throwing and jeering from teenage spectators, Sanpokong was quiet.

- Fresh Round -

About 500 policemen were patrolling the streets and checking the rooftops for stone- throwers.

Workers started to leave their factories in the Sanpokong area at about 12.30 pm and this appeared to herald a fresh round of battle with the police.

At this time a crowd, reported to be more than 1,000 strong, had gathered in Choi Hung Road. Some were seen carrying iron bars, Rubbish fires were started.

Police fired three volleys of when to throw stones.

Five youths were arrested, handcuffed and taken away in police vans.

In the meantime, a crowd of between 4,000 and 5,000 people was seen in the Tung Tau resettlement area. Police again had to resort to tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Shortly after this, a crowd was reported to be attempting to enter a school in Tai Sing Street.

A large number of children was seen in an extension to Tseuk Luk Street at the eastern end of Choi Hung Road. They were throwing stones and removing traffic signs. Four tear gas shells were fired by the police.

- Appeal -

At 2.30 pm. Government issued a statement saying that a large number of people not connected with any industrial dispute were continuing to congregate in the Sanpokong and surrounding area.

It said these people were unnecessarily increasing tension in the area and the risk of an incident occurring.

It appealed to all people not to congregate in the streets. Since a large proportion of the crowds. were, children and young people, it appealed to parents to keep their families off the streets,

At 2.31 pm, a bus was attacked. by a.crowd at the corner of Tai Sing Street and Choi Hung Road. The bus ran across the road and hit a railing. 

Police moved in when the crowd started removing traffic signs.

A large crowd formed again at about 4 pm. and several stoning incidents were reported. 

A crowd started a fire and police fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse them.

In Choi Hung Road itself, another police company. of about 130 men, came under attack from a hostile mob. Six rounds of tear gas were fired and nine people were arrested.

In Tai Sing Street, hawker stalls and a bus shelter were set on fire. The crowd later tried to roll two cars down the road towards the fire.

Police used two volleys of gas to disperse them. They reformed some distance away and began stoning the police.

Police again fired tear gas and this time also used. wooden projectiles. A man was arrested before the crowd dispersed. There were no casualties. At about 5pm a crowd in Tung Tau resettlement estate set fire to a bus. A fire engine arrived later but could not save the bus.

Eight people were arrested in Tung Tau Cheung Road. One of them was injured.

In the Sanpokong area, police reported that the situation was quiet, However, a crowd: was seen putting up posters outside the American Express office in Yin Hing Street.

At 5.30 pm, a crowd broke into the caretaker's office in the Tung Tau resettlement estate and threw a refrigerator into the street.

At about the same time, a crowd of about 500 people attacked the police at the Wongtaisin bus terminus and burned two vans,

A spokesman for the Telephone Company said yesterday that telephone communications in the Sanpokong, Kowloon City, Choi Hung areas — telephone numbers beginning with the figures “82” and “83” —had been put out of service.

The company's engineer said that this action was taken so that important police and Government communications would not be obstructed.

Pressure on the Kowloon exchanges was very heavy, the spokesman said. The public was therefore urged to refrain from making unnecessary calls and to limit them as much as possible.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

GOVERNMENT ACTIONS SUPPORTED 

The Reform Club last night said, in a statement, that it wholly supported Government in its actions in the Kowloon disturbances. Violence must be abated, it added.

The Reform Club said it had envisaged just such disturbances as were now happening and had, in a confidential report more than two years ago, pointed out that the trade unions in Hongkong were not trade unions in the true sense but supporting mainly outside and conflicting interests not connected with Hongkong workers.

After the return to normalcy, the statement continued, the Reform Club urged Government to look into the whole trade union organisation and endeavour to make all of them truly representative of the workers.

Finally, the Reform Club appealed to everyone in Hongkong to do his or her utmost to bring back peace to Hongkong and undertook to look into any grievances that had apparently led to the present violence.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

SANPOKONG — INTERIM REPORT

AT 2am today there was no possibility of anything more than a very interim report on the Sanpokong disturbances. Nothing decisive had occurred, There were no indications of anything fresh immediately brewing. But this is not to say that new plans to foment discord were not being laid. What did emerge from a consensus of observers reports was that yesterday there was less politically inspired ferment, more plain hooliganism. The sporadic burning of vehicles and damage to premises seemed to have no principle behind it. It was simply destruction for destruction's sake, Incidents beyond the fringe of the curfew area were insignificant. The demonstrators and disturbers of the peace were mostly in the teenage class with many of them in even younger age groups — which illustrates the dilemma of the Education Department referred, to in a letter on this page. Close down the schools for the pupils protection, or open them to keep them off the streets? This is only one, of course, of the many cruxes inherent in riot control. Cause premature inconvenience with the curfew or if not that, be too late? Every tactical decision taken by the police on the spot arises also from a dilemma, Most unprejudiced watchers are agreed that their behaviour and restraint so far have been entirely praiseworthy. 

A temporary verdict, then, might be that things were quietening down and if this were so credit is due to the firm handling of the situation by the authorities. Parallels with the manufactured  “Macao situation” are too obvious to be ignored and one interesting footnote to current happenings —in view of certain remarks by Mr Kruschev and his successors — is a sign erected on Thursday night over the British consular office on that island linking (surely for the first time hereabouts) “British imperialism” and Soviet revisionism. Could this whole rumpus be a kind of thumbing of the nose at Moscow? Such an interpretation may be regarded as excessively devious. Yet when one is dealing with those whose thought processes are such that they can view all the incidents so far as a premeditated plot on the part of the Hongkong Government, then perhaps nothing is devious enough. To come back to earth, to return to sanity: the situation is at least no worse, and may be a little better than it was.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

EXTRACTS FROM THE CHINESE PRESS: STRONG LEFTIST BLAST OVER THE RIOTS

The leading left-wing newspapers and their sympathisers yesterday strongly attacked Government for the Sanpokong incidents on Thursday while the other Chinese newspapers appealed to the population to abide by law and order and not to resort to violence. 

The Wen Wei Pao, in its strongest editorial for the past week, issued "stern warning" to the Governor blaming him for the sanguinary suppression of workers by the Police. It also accused the Governor of being the chief culprit.

It charged that the series of incidents in Kowloon Walled City and Sanpokong during the past week had been planned and premeditated by the Hongkong British imperialist authorities.

- Escalated -

It also put forward several demands to punish the culprits. apologise to the compatriots, stop atrocities. and sanguinary suppression and release our patriotic workers and students, 

The Ta Kung Po claimed that the British authorities in Hongkong had escalated its suppression, and that the Chinese would likewise escalate to whatever level you escalate suppression.

The paper also accused right-wing newspapers of defaming the workers and accusing them of starting political labour disputes.

The Commercial Daily accused Hongkong British authorities of planned agitation, premeditated suppression, and pointing the spear at workers and compatriots.

It also accused pro-Nationalists of doing their utmost to fan the fire and create incidents.

The Wah Kiu Yat Po asked the people to observe law and order and trust in the Government.

It also asked the people not to believe rumours and, above all, not to spread rumours.

The paper likened Hongkong to a big family, where differences occurred but, could be amicably solved.

"We should resolutely avoid aggravating any difficulties facing this big family. This is not only Government's responsibility but the responsibility of the four million people."

The paper asked the people to view the incidents clearly and adopt a sincere attitude to other people and to incidents.

People should avoid disturbances and should never encourage evil things to develop.

If everyone does that, we believe that Hong Kong's bright future would not be affected by temporary dis

The paper appealed to everyone to remain calm and help each other to face difficulties.

The Ming Pao appealed to all sides not to use violence. The paper believed that most people in Hongkong would feel uneasy and anxious when they heard of the disturbances in Sanpokong. They would all hope that the trouble would quieten down, so that the area will return to normal.

The paper also said that 90 per cent of the Chinese in Hongkong would have to stay in Hongkong no matter what happened because they did not have the resources to go elsewhere in time of trouble. They, therefore, all hoped to be able to live here peacefully.

- Political Affair -

The Tin Tin Yat Po claimed that the leftists had turned the management-labour dispute into a political affair while at the same time they forbade Government to interfere.

The paper believed that the move was intended to strike at the stability of Hongkong's economy and scare away investments from overseas so that China could further develop her market here.

In a short article entitled "How do we face political disturbances", the New Life Evening Post said it found difficulty in appealing to those taking part in the disturbances because of the strong political colour attached to these disturbances. However, the paper said, it would appeal to those who happened to be near illegal groups not to involve themselves in the disturbances.

***

SCMP, 13 May 1967

Trade Unions' Four-Point Demands

The leftist Hongkong Federation of Trade Unions last night convened a special meeting at the end of which it demanded that Government stop the present “sanguinary suppression of workers of the Hongkong Artificial Flower Works.”

It also asked Government to: 

— Release all the people arrested by the police during the disturbances; 

- Apology -

— Punish those who were responsible for the arrests; and 

— Make an apology and a confession 

The meeting also decided to set up several “action committees” to support the workers.

At another meeting, the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce issued an official statement. denouncing the Hongkong Government. 

It described police actions to suppress the riot as Fascist tyranny. 

This is the first time that the Chamber has made such a strongly-worded statement against Government. Support for Mr Mao Tse-tung constituted part of the statement.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

A squad of police rush up the stairs into Block 23 at the Wongtaisin resettlement estate to catch people who were throwing bottles down on them from the roof.

RIOTERS GO ON RAMPAGE FOR THIRD DAY

Violence broke up for the third successive day in north-eastern Kowloon yesterday when hostile crowds pelted the police with stones and empty bottles in Wangtauhom, Wongtaisin and Tungtau resettlement estates, Sanpokong and Kowloon City.

They also stoned passing cars and buses along Prince Edward Road opposite Kai Tak Airport.

Among the victims was a European couple.  Their car was stopped. The crowd stoned it with bricks from a building site nearby bus the Europeans managed to drive away uninjured.

This was at 5.45 pm when the crowds began to set up a barricade of baskets in Prince Edward Road alongside the Kowloon City Roundabout.

They stoned passing traffic and sets the barricade alight.  The police arrived and the crowds dispersed into the side streets of Kowloon City.

The curfew was reimposed [sic] in the same area as on the first two nights.  Yesterday’s curfew started at 7 pm and lasted until 4 o’clock this morning.

Peace returned to north-eastern Kowloon for only nine hours yesterday before it was broken by the first of a series of incidents again in Sanpokong.

Following scattered incidents in the curfew area on Friday, no other disturbances were reported as from 2 am and the curfew was lifted at 4.30 am.

- Trouble Centre –

Bus services began to run normally and people were making use of these facilities to return to work.  Housewives were also leaving their homes to make their daily purchases.

Squads of police continued to patrol the area which had been the centres of trouble.

Shortly after 11 am, crowds began to paste posters on the wall outside the Hongkong Artificial Flower Works.

The crowds cheered.  Another man wrote Chinese characters with white paint on the wall saying, “Down with David Trench.”

Police vehicles then arrived and the crowds dispersed into the side streets and started throwing bottles and stones at the police, reporters and photographers.

They had narrow escapes from missiles which came down from the upper floors of nearby factory buildings.

The crowd kept shouting loudly “British running dogs” at the police who immediately began to deploy round the area.

The police warned the crowds with loud-speakers to go home.  They also appealed to parents to keep their children at home.

A wooden barricade at the junction of Tseuk Luk Street and Choi Hung Road on the border of Sanpokong was set on fire.  Several bonfires were also started in front of the Tai Luk Rubber Shoe Factory in Tseuk Luk Street.

In Tai Shing Street, on the other side of Choi Hung Road, a crowd of about 200 started a rubbish fire.

- Explosion –

The police also reported another crowd of about 500 congregating outside the Tung Tau resettlement estate.

Fire broke out in the staff quarters of the Wongtaisin resettlement estate shortly after 1 pm.  It was followed by a loud explosion and soon three of the flats were in flames.

Meanwhile, a hostile crowd gathered in Tai Shing Street, building up several bonfires, thus preventing fire appliances and ambulances reaching the scene of the fire.

As the police moved along to clean the streets for the firemen, missiles were thrown from verandahs and rooftops, and slogans were shouted at them.

Firemen managed to put out the blaze an hour later.  There were no reports of casualties.

At 2.30 pm a shower of bottles was thrown from the third floor verandah. Several policemen dashed into the estate and arrested three men.

A crowd of about 1000 people outside Block 12 of Tungtau resettlement estate by the side of Choi Hung Road, started to throw stones at the police.

- Set on fire –

A car was set on fire outside Block 12, at 3.20 pm.

Another crowd of 1000 people in Fung Mo Street, near the Wangtauhom resettlement estate, threw stones at passing traffic.

The police patrol in Choi Hung Road was attacked by a crowd of about 500.

Two rounds of gas ammunition were fired by the police to disperse them.

The situation outside Block 12 became tense shortly after 3 pm when about 500 people set up road-blocks, one with a burned out car, and began to attack the police.

The police charged them, firing gas shells and dispersing them.

But some minutes later the crowd formed up at another spot in the estate and wrecked a school classroom, damaging it extensively.  The police arrived and managed to arrest two people before the crowd ran away.

Again the police charged and more gas shells were fired.

Another crowd of about 300 workers were singing and shouting slogans outside the plastic flower factory at Sanpokong, where the trouble started on Thursday.

The police then deployed to seal off the greater part of Tung Tau resettlement estate and to contain in that area the dense crowds who were still in the streets.

- ‘Very quiet’ –

By 6.30 pm, the police reported that the situation in Sanpokong was “very quiet” and that few people were in the streets.  This was half an hour before the curfew came into effect.

Police units in the immediate vicinity of the estates began to withdraw but a careful watch was maintained.

A helicopter of the Hongkong Auxiliary Air Force circled overhead to observe the curfew area.

Though the curfew was reported to be effective, a number of incidents were reported after 7 pm.

A police patrol was stoned by a crowd in Tam Kung Road, Mataukok.  Rubbish was thrown at a patrol from nearby buildings.  This was outside the curfew area, opposite Kowloon City.

At about the same time, a crowd of about 200 was reported to be assembling outside a theatre in Choi Hung Road throwing stones.

Twelve people were arrested for breaking the curfew. A police constable on patrol in Lo Fu Ngam was injured by a metal object thrown from a resettlement block.

The police, however, said that the situation was much improved compared with the same time on Friday night.

Shortly after 9 pm, police came across a small gathering of curfew breakers in Fung Mo Street and arrested four of them.  The others disappeared into the Shek Kwu Lung area.

Police made four more arrests in Tung Tau Tsuen Road near Lung Cheung Road, shortly after.

One of the arrests was in connection with bottle throwing and the remaining three for curfew breaking.

A number of small rubbish fires in the area were put out.

A small Buddhist school on the ground floor of a resettlement estate between Choi Hung Road and Yin Hing Street in Sanpokong was ransacked.  The police also found a burned car outside the building.

At the height of the disturbance in Wongtaisin, two American missionaries came out of a building in the estate. They were later identified as Mr J. Richard and Mr Dennis Barlow, both of Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr Barlow was hit by a flying stick, thrown by a boy.

- Turned back –

A policeman rushed to their aid.

A European photographer on a motor-cycle was turned back as a barrage of stones was thrown at him.  He was advised by other members of the press not to provoke the crowd.

A tour of the areas under-curfew found the area quiet and calm.

Under the escort of police patrol, comprising six lorries and five jeeps, ten local reporters and foreign correspondents toured the area for half an hour.

In Choi Hung estate, many children were at the playgrounds outside the building.

A few boys booed the reporters and their escorts.

The Ordnance Depot in Choi Hung was guarded by army personnel carrying sub-machine guns.

Tung Tau Village Road was strewn with stones and broken glass.

Men shops were still open in Kowloon Walled City.

In Sanpokong the wall posters outside the Hongkong Artificial Flowers Factory were removed.

At press time a police report described the curfew area as generally quiet.

Altogether 55 people were arrested between 8 am and the midnight.

During the same period, three policemen were injured and one of them was detained in hospital for treatment.

Sixty-five rounds of gas ammunition and 23 baton shells were fired.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

Delegation calls at Government House

Four men and a woman of the China and South Sea Bank Ltd called at Government House about 11.15 am yesterday and demanded to see the Governor, Sir David Trench.

The group was received by the Governor's Aide-de-Camp, Mr Richard Smallshaw, and presented a letter to him.

Representatives of the Wen Wei Po and the New Evening Post, who were standing outside Government House, read and sang Mao quotations and revolutionary songs.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

KOWLOON DISTURBANCES FLARE AGAIN

(Photo at the top) A group of teenagers setting fire to rubbish and a pile of wood before dragging them across a road in an attempt to fail a police advance during disturbances yesterday.

(Second photo from the top) Firemen trying to put out a mysterious blaze which started at the staff quarters at the Wongtaisin resettlement estate yesterday.

(Second photo from the bottom - left) A teenager being arrested by a police officer.

(Second photo from the bottom - right) A teenager caught in his attempt to hurl a dustbin lid at police.

(Photo at the bottom) Policemen removing obstacles put on the put on the road by the demonstrators during one of the incidents yesterday

Jail terms for 115 people taking part in riots

A total of 115 people were given jail terms ranging from one to 18 months after they had pleaded guilty yesterday to charges arising from the disturbances in Kowloon.

A. total of 65 people, including 12 youths and 11 boys, were jointly charged at North Kowloon Court with unlawfully assembling in Kowloon City on Friday.

Of these, 38 were each jailed for three months, two youths each fined $500 and two boys were committed to the Boys’ Remand Home for six months, after they had all pleaded guilty to the charges.

The remaining 23 defendants, including nine boys, who pleaded not guilty, will have their cases heard tomorrow.

Inspector Li Mut-wah, prosecuting, told Mr. F. de F. Stratton, that the defendants were among a crowd of about 200 people who surrounded three private cars in Olympic Avenue on Friday night and jeered at the occupants.

On seeing the police, the crowd proceeded to Sung Wong Toi Road, chased by a platoon of policemen.

Police set up roadblocks in the vicinity, and subsequently rounded up the defendants.

Seventy-four others who pleaded guilty to various charges arising from the disturbances were sent to jail.

Prison terms ranging from three to 18 months were imposed on 32 of them, including seven youths, for taking part in a riot.

Another 29 were given terms ranging from one to nine months for unlawful assembly, while 19 others were each jailed for six months for breaking the curfew.

- Threw Bottles -

Four men were each jailed for three months for throwing bottles at the police.

In addition, three boys were remanded for a probation officer’s report and two others were committed to the Boys’ Remand Home for six months after they pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful assembly.

A man was fined $500 for breaking the curfew.

Fourteen people arrested by police during the Kowloon disturbances on Thursday were taken into South Kowloon Court yesterday afternoon under heavy police guard for trial.

Two of them, Chiu Chi-ping (17), a pupil of the Wing Hong Middle School, and Fong Yui-ho (24), a garment factory worker, were jailed by Mr J. J. Rhind for unlawful assembly.

Chiu was jailed for nine months when he admitted throwing stones at the police. Fong was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

A 16-year-old pupil was bound over in $500 for two years. Another defendant, Wong Chan-kee (24), a salesman, was fined $150 after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Ten other persons were remanded two days in jail custody pending their trial.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

(Photo at the top) Riot police trying to extinguish burning rubbish set alight by demonstrators among a barricade of empty oil drums outside Block 23, Tai Shing Street, in the Wongtaisin area.

Malicious rumours cause public uneasiness

Rumours, apparently deliberately fostered, caused uneasiness among residents on Hongkong Island and other Kowloon areas which had hitherto been unaffected by the riots in northeast Kowloon.

One rumour that there would be an interruption in the water supply caused many nervous householders to begin storing water. In some areas, this caused the supply to certain floors of buildings to be halted.

The same families, who reported they were without water, reported an hour or two later that it had been restored.

Following many reports by families that their water supply had been cut, the Acting Director of Public Works issued a denial that there had been a stoppage of water in some areas of the Colony.

“Supply hours continue to be from six o’clock in the morning to ten o'clock at night,” the statement said.

It noted, however, that some householders had been drawing heavily on their supplies, causing a temporary drop in water pressure, which might have given the impression in some households that water had been stopped.

The Acting Director of Public Works urged all householders to disregard rumours concerning the water supply and not to overdraw on their water supplies.

Other rumours that there would be a general strike in the stores and an electricity stoppage caused residents to make a frantic rush for food and provisions and candles and other lighting apparatus.

In many Hongkong Island districts, residents thronged rice shops and grocery stores.

In Saiwanho district, the price of rice went up to more than twice its normal price. By 4.30 pm, people were paying as much as $2 for a catty of rice.

The Director of Commerce and Industry, in a statement last night assured the public that there was no need to stock up rice.

“Rice stocks in Hongkong total more than 100,000 tons,” the Director said. “That is enough for more than 100 days’ supply and at the same time imports are coming in regularly from all sources.”

- No shortage -

In view of the pressure on rice retailers yesterday, the Director also announced that rice importers and wholesalers would continue to deliver adequate supplies of rice to retailers throughout the Colony today and tomorrow.

"There is therefore no need for the public to worry at all about a shortage of rice anywhere and they should only buy in their normal quantities,” he added.

A Government statement issued at 6 pm said there was absolutely no truth in rumours that there was a strike among electricity workers which would result in a possible electricity stoppage.

It also urged people to remain calm and to disregard the rumours.

Among other rumours which were circulating yesterday was one to the effect that certain Kowloon telephone numbers, particularly those beginning with the figures 82 and 83, had been put out of service in order to facilitate police communications.

A spokesman for the Telephone Company last night denied that any numbers had at any time during the present disturbances been put out of commission for any reasons.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

Taipei View
‘Another Macao’ not expected

Taipei, May 13

Nationalist observers said today they did not expect that the “Communist inspired” disturbances in Hongkong would turn the Colony “into another Macao.”

They warned, however, that pressure “had been applied on the Hongkong authorities."

The Nationalists said the situation was far different from Macao in many respects and that the Communists “knew that they cannot brow-beat the British into submission as easily as they did the Portuguese.”

Britain could count on the support of her Allies in case of open hostilities with Peking.

Commenting on the motive behind the “Communist engineered” troubles, the Nationalists said the Communists hoped that the British would be forced to clamp down on anti-Communist residents and organisations in the Colony.

In London, there has so far been no official reaction to the disturbances in the Colony.

Unofficially, Government sources said the situation was being closely watched, especially in view of the fact that Britain keeps 7,000 troops in Hongkong.

They could be used in maintaining order, but this, sources said, might open the way for Communist exploitation of their presence.

The sources believed that one factor which would dampen reaction at present would be Britain's desire to avoid provoking China and, in line with this, not to give importance to what some observers apparently consider comparatively minor disturbances. - AFP and UPI.

***

SCMP, 14 May 1967

Workers told to observe law and order

The right-wing Trades Union Council yesterday appealed to workers to co-operate and observe law and order.

In a four-point appeal issued and circulated to various unions yesterday the Council urged workers to observe the following:

1) Workers should go to work on time at usual and to remain at home and not roam in the streets after work;

2) Workers should not wander in places where crowds have gathered;

3) Workers should listen to news broadcasts and observe Government's advice; and

4) Workers should restrain their children by keeping them at home so as to prevent them from being used by others.

Commenting on the riot, the Council said it was apparently engineered by a few who had ulterior motives while the ignorant, the unemployed and the discontented followed blindly, thereby changing the labour dispute to a political issue.

“Workers engaged in proper and honest jobs should absolutely trust Government to maintaining peace and order not only for their own interests but also for the interest of the community.” the Council said.

***

SCMP, 15 May 1967

ALL QUIET IN KOWLOON
Disturbances Peter Out: No Curfew Imposed
HELP FROM KAIFONGS

Kowloon was quiet yesterday with the exception of one or two scattered incidents in the afternoon which were quietly dealt with. No curfew was imposed last night.

One bright aspect following the three days of disturbances was the meeting yesterday of kaifong and civic leaders in the troubled areas to discuss how best they could help restore peace and order.

The meeting, which described the disturbances as senseless, pledged its full support to help bring about peace and tranquility to the troubled area.

Despite the decision not to impose a curfew, few people were seen in the streets of Sanpokong where the original disturbances started, and the other trouble areas.

Eight people were arrested yesterday afternoon for throwing stones at the police. One of the arrests was made in Yin Hing Street and the rest were made In Tseuk Luk Street at its junctions with Shun Ling and Hin Hing Streets.

The gates of police stations in the area were left open, and policemen wearing steel helmets withdrew from the streets, leaving the maintaining of law and order to policemen on foot patrols. Police vehicles in the streets also removed their protective screens.

The first major incident of the day occurred shortly after 1 pm, when a man started painting slogans on the wall of the Hongkong Artificial Flower Works in Tai Yau Street, cheered on by about 70 onlookers.

Police vehicles, which went to the scene to investigate the commotion, were stoned by the sword which had by then swelled to about 200.

The vehicles left later, amid jeers and shouts from the crowd.

The crowd dispersed soon afterwards, and the man who painted slogans was detained by the police for questioning.

In another incident shortly after 2 pm several plain-clothes detectives were forced to run for their lives after attempting to arrest some trouble-makers.

A crowd of people wearing “Mao” badges and carrying bottles of China-made aerated water began throwing these at two police vehicles which appeared on the scene.

Soon after that, detectives moved in and arrested one of the trouble-makers in Hin Hing Street. They took him to a nearby police station in a taxi.

- Bottles Thrown –

Later, the detectives made a second arrest in Tseuk Luk Street. As they were escorting the man to a taxi, a crowd tried to surround them but retreated when the detectives drew their guns.

Six or seven other detectives attempted to approach another crowd to make more arrests, but were met by a shower of empty bottles and stones and shouts of “beat them, beat them.”

The detectives then took to their heels, amid shouts of “British running dogs.”

At that time, a large number of Anti-Riot squads moved into the area and dispersed the crowd. Some arrests were made.

At 3.20 pm, it was reported that a youth was addressing about 100 people outside the Hongkong Artificial Flower Works, but the crowd soon dispersed when the police arrived.

At 5.30 pm, several boys moved a wooden traffic sign with an arrow and the words “To Lung Cheung Road.” The boys then started to direct traffic.

A private car was stoned by the boys when the driver failed to obey their orders.

After that, the crowds started playing a “hit and run” game with the police, gathering in one part and creating disturbances and dispersing on the appearance of the police.

However, by 6 pm, the crowds had gradually dispersed on their own accord.

A S.C.M. Post reporter who made a tour of the northeastern districts of Kowloon from six to midnight, described the situation in the areas as “very quiet.”

He reported that in Sanpokong, it was quieter than usual, and less than ten people could be seen in the streets.

Streets in the areas of Wang Tau Hom, Wongtaisin, Tung Tau resettlement estate, and Kowloon City were almost deserted.

However, coffee stalls in the resettlement estates had reopened their doors for business, but there were only few customers in them.

People, dressed in pyjamas, could be seen lounging on balconies or resettlement estate buildings.

Buses were running normally in the troubled areas.

Only a few policemen in normal uniform could be seen patrolling the streets.

Posters bearing slogans still appeared at the back of many buses yesterday.

People travelling along Nathan Road reported that “practically all buses running along the road carried at least one poster.”

The back of one single-decker bus carried a poster giving a list of the numbers of about ten Chinese policemen alleged to have maltreated their countrymen during the disturbances.

However, uniformed policemen on patrol appeared unperturbed as they walked past the buses which were at the time parked at the Tsimshatsui terminal, the witness added.

The numbers of some Chinese constables had also appeared in several left-wing Chinese newspapers.

Action pictures of the disturbances appeared in show windows of most of the left-wing banks, department stores and other establishments on both side of the harbour.  

The main theme depicted by the pictures on display was the struggle of the Chinese workers against their “oppressors,” police brutality and the use of U.S. made tear-gas by the police.

The situation was very quiet yesterday in Macao.

The crowds which besieged the British Consulate for the past few days did not appear, probably because 

the offices were closed, yesterday being Sunday.

- NO RICE SHORTAGE –

The Director of Commerce and Industry yesterday reassured the public that there is no rice shortage in Hongkong.

He said that rice importers and wholesalers were daily continuing, including public holidays, to sell and deliver rice to retailers in all parts of the Colony.  Importers were selling rice at the same prices as last Friday.

The Director said: “There is therefore no reason for anyone to fear a shortage of rice stocks in retail shops or a rise in prices.”

***

SCMP, 15 May 1967

Pictures show the Sanpokong area, scene of three day disturbances, which was quiet yesterday except for minor incidents.  Top picture shows police standing guard as factory workers take their lunch break.  Bottom picture shows factory workers reading a notice at the Hongkong Artificial Flower Works factory.

Leftist Papers’ Comments On Disturbances

The Wen Wei Pao said in an editorial yesterday it fully supported the four-point demand made on Government recently by the Hongkong Federation of Trade Unions.

The four demands are:

1. Immediate stoppage of the sanguinary suppression and assurance of no repetition of similar incident;

2. Release all those arrested during the disturbances;

3. Punish those who were responsible for the arrests and compensation for loss, and

4. An apology by Government.

“Now that Government is sanguinarily suppressing workers, pupils, and fellow people with plans and premeditation, in view of the seeming escalation of the offensive, we must resist and struggle,” the paper said.

- Letters –

Six other organisations have handed in letters at Government House which contained demands on similar lines as those made by the Hongkong Federation of Trade Unions.

The organisations are the New China News Agency, the New Evening Post, the Wen Wei Pao, the China and South Sea Bank. Clearwater Bay Film Studio and the Sin Hua Trust Savings and Commercial Bank Ltd.

The Wen Wei Pao editorial went on:

“To resist and struggle necessitate well-organised and united action. We must reciprocate whatever the enemies do, and this is an urgent need in the present struggle.”

“The Hongkong and Kowloon Workers’ Anti-Persecution Struggle Committee organised by the Federation was the result of Chairman Mao’s thoughts and it symbolised the determination of struggle against Fascist atrocities by Government, and encouraged and pushed forward the brave campaign of anti-violence by the public.

“The fact that Government is bloodily suppressing not only the Chinese workers, but also pupils and fellow workers in other trades, show that the authorities are carrying out a fantastic racial suppression. That is to say what we are facing is not only a class struggle, but also a racial struggle.

- Conspiracy –

“Therefore, we fully approve the proposed Committee.  We should act in accordance with Chairman Mao’s directives to break down the conspiracy and offence by the authorities to make them to accept the Union’s all righteous demands.”

The Ta Kung Pao yesterday said in an editorial that the current disturbances were created solely by Government. It claimed that the authorities were carrying out a racial persecution against the Chinese inhabitants in Hongkong.

“In the face of justice, Government’ has put itself in the place of an accused in a court,” it declared.

The statement issued recently by Government on the situation, the editorial continued, was designed to defend itself and to clear itself of any responsibility.

Speaking of the currents disturbances, it claimed that all the troubles originated from intervention by the police in the labour dispute of the Hongkong Plastic Flowers Factory.

- Obvious –

“From the disturbances, it is quite obvious that Government is not really carrying out the law-enforcement. It is carrying out a policy of racial persecution against the Chinese in collaboration with the anti-Chinese campaign by the imperialists and revisionists.”

The editorial accused Government of indiscriminately arrest Hong Kong residents and quickly putting them in jail without giving them a chance of defending themselves.

“What offenses have they committed, and where in the evidence against them?” asked the editorial.

Government would have to bear all the responsibility if it did not back out as soon as possible, it added.

The New Evening Post accused Government of turning a “labour dispute” into a “political problem”.

In an editorial said that the “atrocities” by the Hongkong police showed that the dispute had developed into a “persecution” against the Chinese people.

Many innocent people were convicted in court of law, and Hongkong Police detectives were not brought to justice.

The conflagration had destroyed Hongkong’s mask of “Show-window of Democracy”, it claimed.

- Unite -

The editorial appealed to the public “to stand up and to unite together to put out the conflagration.”

More than 1000 pupils from local left-wing schools and their parents yesterday attended a meeting protesting against “atrocities” by Government.

They also pledged support for the workers’ four-point demand made on Government, and vowed that they were determined to attain final victory.

Meanwhile, North Vietnam today described police action against demonstrators in Hongkong as “an insolent provocation against the people throughout China,’ according to an agency report from London.

- Hanoi –

Commenting on the disturbances in the British Crown Colony, Nhan Dan, Hanoi’s official mouthpiece said the authorities in Hongkong not only repressed the workers protesting against their employers but also children.

It said the British authorities “hostile attitude” towards the Chinese of Hongkong was associated with the turning of Hongkong into a base “in service of the U.S. aggression war in Vietnam.

This was the first comment of a Communist country on the disturbances in Hong Kong. So far China has not said anything on the matter.

***

SCMP, 15 May 1967

QUIETER FOR THE MOMENT

THE Sanpokong situation has continued to quieten down and the absence of a curfew last night passed almost unnoticed. Among the better signs over the week-end was the willingness of community leaders from industry, the kaifongs and other sectors of society to put themselves on record as opposing this senseless damage to the Hongkong image at home and abroad. One of the apparent ironies of last week's events was that many of them seemed to centre round resettlement areas where it might be thought that the residents would be even less inclined to indulge in anti-social activities than the ordinary longer established inhabitant. But with a quarter of the population now living in these estates, and with overcrowding endemic from the beginning (though still to a lesser extent than in the old slum tenements sub-divided into innumerable noisome cubicles) it is perhaps too much to expect expressions of indebtedness. After all, the resettled differ from those fortunate enough to have obtained Housing Authority or Housing Society accommodation. They were put there. There is no landlord-tenant relationship in the ordinary sense. In addition, of course, the “sealing-off” process was bound to inconvenience more law-abiding members of the community than wrongdoers.

There is unfortunately no guarantee that this better atmosphere will continue to prevail. A letter on another page indicates just how far it is possible for the “Through the Looking Glass” attitude to go. The Police are there accused of “playing with fire” because they did their duty and acted to preserve law and order. This is the role of Government at large, and it is a role which has been played without political partiality. Yet for upholding the law, for preventing (with admirable efficiency) the onset of mob rule, anarchy and boundless damage to life and property, Government is now being required to “apologise”. How detached from reality can one get? The plain facts are that if those who are inciting the mobs wish to ruin Hongkong as a major commercial centre, they can probably do so – especially if they include malicious rumour in their armoury. But in the process they will cut their own throats, and possibly kill the golden goose as well. 

***

15 May 1967  [FBIS]

CHINESE COMPATRIOTS ATTACKED IN HONG KONG

Peking NCNA International Service in English 2125 GMT 14 May 1967--W

(Text) Hong Kong, 14 May--British authorities in Hong Kong, setting themselves against all Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong and the 700 million Chinese people, recently sent large numbers of armed police to attack Chinese compatriots here. More than 400 people were arrested, according to incomplete figures.

This large-scale bloody suppression occurred after the British authorities directly meddled in a labor-management dispute at the Sanpokong branch of the Hong Kong artificial flower works, Kowloon. This bloody fascist outrage was planned long in advance and organized by the British authorities in cooperation with U.S. imperialism's anti-China campaign.

On the morning of 4 May over 100 armed police arrived at Kowloon city, blockading the intersections and forbidding the residents from moving about. When they started wrecking houses in Lung Shing Road and Lung Tsin Road, the local residents protested. But the police pulled out their guns and arrested two people. The police also detained the neighborhood representatives who attempted to take the matter up with the police. 

On the afternoon of 6 May the British authorities sent out over 200 fully-armed police and "riot police" to put down the workers of the Sanpokong branch of the Hong Kong artificial flower works, Kowloon, who were struggling against the management's intensified exploitation. About a hundred patriotic workers and compatriots were beaten up and suffered injuries of varying degrees of seriousness. One serious case was hospitalized and 21 people were arrested.

On the afternoon of 11 May, the British authorities again attacked the workers at the artificial flower works plus other workers, teachers, students and compatriots who came to demonstrate their sympathy. Some 127 people were arrested. On 12 May the British authorities arrested more than 100 people in Kowloon. An 18-year-old youth suffered severe head injuries and died the next day. On 13 May the Hong Kong "riot police" mounted surprise attacks on local people, beating them up and arresting another. 100 and more.

According to figures announced by the British authorities themselves on the morning of 14 May, a total of 391 Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong had been arrested after 11 May. In the meantime, the British authorities in Hong Kong questioned a large number of Chinese compatriots and sentenced them on framed-up charges. The issue dates back to 13 April when the management of the Hong Kong artificial flower works put out regulations aimed at heavier exploitation and oppression. On 28 April several hundred workers were fired without cause. In order to defend their jobs and lives, workers! delegates repeatedly requested a conference with the management, but were refused, For several days, workers staged an orderly protest in front of Sanpokong branch of the artificial flower works. They wore Chairman Mao's badges and carried "Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung." The British authorities in Hong Kong were frightened by the growing interest among patriotic Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong and Kowloon in studying Chairman Mao's works and hated it. They got together with the management of the artificial flower works, and at 1630 on 6 May, they instigated the foreman to beat up the workers. Ten minutes later, P.F. Cooper, senior police superintendent, directed five carloads of police to blockade the area. Right behind them came eight truckloads of "riot police" wearing steel helmets and carrying rattan, shields, clubs, handcuffs, rifles, carbines, submachine guns and tear gas guns. 

They charged among the workers, striking them with clubs and rifle butts. People who were thrown to the ground were ruthlessly trampled upon by the police. Some had bleeding head injuries. Some were dragged by the hair into police vans. But, the injured workers in the police vans held up their copies of “Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung" and shouted "Protest against the fascist outrages of the British authorities in Hong Kong" and “Long live Chairman Mao.”

Many workers and other nearby residents came to the aid of the workers, but were also beaten up by the police. The workers fought back with scrap iron, stones, and bottles. At about 2000, the British Hong Kong police and "riot police” withdrew from the area.

That evening three delegates from the Hong Kong-Kowloon federation of rubber and plastic trade unions protested about the incident at the Wongtaisin police station, Kowloon, and were detained.

On 9 May, with the support of patriotic Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong and Kowloon, workers at the artificial flower works continued their struggle. In front of the factory gate they recited and sang quotations from Chairman Mao. They also put protest slogans and quotations from Chairman Mao on the factory walls.

At noon on 11 May about 100 workers gathered in orderly line at the gate to protest against the British authorities for meddling in the dispute between labor and management and for the premediated sanguinary suppression of workers. Wearing badges of Chairman Mao, they recited quotations from Chairman Mao, shouted slogans, and sang “The East Is Red" and "Unity Is Strength." One group after another of patriotic Chinese compatriots came to express their sympathy and support, giving great encouragement to the workers.

At 1530 more than 600 "riot police" drove into the area, armed with rattan shields, elubs, and automatic rifles. At a signal from M.C. Illingworth, chief of police, Kowloon east, they lined up in formation and fired wooden projectiles at teachers and students there, injuring one girl. The police then charged into the crowd, beating people up and hurling them into police vans. The police tried to disperse the workers by force and beat up and chased passers-by. They repeatedly fired tear gas shells and wooden projectiles, wounding quite a number of people. According to the figure released by the British authorities themselves, 127 persons were arrested that day.

Fearing worldwide exposure, the police also interfered with newsmen covering the Scene. They brutally beat up the newsmen, including one from the Hong Kong branch of NCNA and several representing patriotic local papers. Five of them were injured. Newsmen from the NCNA Hong Kong branch, the WEN HUI PAO, the TA KUNG PAO and the HSIN WAN PAO (NEW EVENING POST) lodged a strong protest with M.C. Illingworth who was directing the bloody attack.

The British authorities In Hong Kong announced a curfew on a number of Kowloon districts starting at 2130, 11 May further suppressing Chinese compatriots.

Armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought, the Hong Kong workers, patriotic students and teachers, and compatriots from every walk of life were fearless before the enemy's brutal attack. They displayed the undaunted heroic spirit of the great Chinese people. When the butchers were firing wooden projectiles at the patriotic students and teachers at a distance of only slightly more than ten feet, a group of young people linked arms and recited the quotation from Chairman Mao: "Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory" and shouted “Long live Chairman Mao!" They indignantly condemned the fascist brutalities of the British authorities. One of the youths, paying no attention to the enemies’ shots, rushed up to one of the police officers and shouted angrily: “Imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tiger.”

A worker who had been hit and was bleeding was pushed onto a police van, but insisted on keeping his head out of the van so that photographers could take pictures as evidence of the crimes of the British authorities. When the police were beating up and chasing one group of Chinese compatriots, others came to their help by throwing stones and bottles at the police thugs.

The bloody persecution of the workers by the British authorities in Hong Kong caused great indignation among compatriots of all circles in Hong Kong and Kowloon, The Hong Kong-Kowloon federation of rubber and plastic trade unions issued a statement on7 May, lodging the strongest protest with the British authorities in Hong Kong against this premeditated bloody incident, The statement raised four demands: The British authorities in Hong Kong should immediately release all arrested workers! representatives, workers, and other compatriots; those responsible must be severely punished and workers compensated for all losses; the personal security of the workers be effectively ensured and a guarantee made that in the future similar incidents of persecution not occur; the basic rights of the workers be respected and a guarantee made that the British authorities in Hong Kong not intervene in disputes between workers and management, The statement said that they would fight until final victory.

The Hong Kong-Kowloon federation of trade unions held a full council committee emergency meeting on 12 May. The meeting passed a resolution to form a "committee of Hong Kong-Kowloon workers of all trades to fight against persecution by British authorities in Hong Kong" and put forward four demands. The federation called upon Hong Kong and Kowloon workers to raise still higher the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought and unite further so as to carry the anti-persecution struggle to the end.

Industrial workers, youths, students, shop assistants, cultural and art workers and other patriotic compatriots from all walks of life have held meetings or written to the newspapers TA KUNG PAO and WEN WEI PAO indignantly condemning the fascist brutalities of the British authorities in Hong Kong. They warned that the blood debt the British authorities owed to the Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong must be repaid. The Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong and Kowloon, armed with the invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung, are not to be insulted) "We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counterattack." The Chinese compatriots will follow this instruction of Chairman Mao's, By engineering the fascist outrages, the British authorities in Hong Kong have lifted a rock merely to crush their own feet.

***

15 May 1967 [FBIS]

Foreign Ministry Protest

Peking NCNA International Service in English 0130 GMI 15 May 1967—B:

(Text) Peking, 15 May--Lo Kuei-po, Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs, early this morning summoned D. C. Hopson, British charge d'affaires to China, and handed him a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry which lodges the most urgent and the strongest protest with the British Government against the fascist atrocities committed by the British authorities in Hong Kong against Chinese workers and residents there. Full text of the statement follows:

On the afternoon of 6 May 1967, Chinese workers of the Hong Kong Sanpokong artificial Plastic flower works launched a struggle against intensified capitalist exploitation. To shield capital and suppress labor, the British authorities in Hong Kong brazenly turned out on the same day more than 200 armed policemen and "riot police," sanguinarily suppressing the workers of the factory and other Chinese residents, beating and wounding many of them, and arresting 21 persons. Afterwards they also arrested the president of the federation of the rubber and plastic trade unions and workers representatives who went to a Hong Kong police station to protest. 

On the afternoon of the 11 May the British authorities in Hong Kong carried out another sanguinary suppression on an even bigger scale by turning loose on the barehanded workers, representatives of various circles, and young students large numbers of armed troops, policemen, and "riot police" totaling more than 1,000, who repeatedly attacked them with clubs, riot guns, and tear gas bombs, and even turning out military vehicles and helicopters. Many persons (including newsreel cameramen and journalists) were arrested. After 12 May the British authorities in Hong Kong still continued large-scale arrests of the demonstrating masses. By the morning of 14 May more than 400 had been arrested. At present the situation is still being aggravated.

It must be pointed out that these large-scale sanguinary atrocities perpetrated by the British authorities in Hong Kong are the result of long premeditation and are a component part of the British Government's scheme of collusion with U.S. imperialism against China. On the one hand, in coordination with the U.S. imperialist war escalation in Vietnam, the British Government is continuing to provide the United States with Hong Kong as a base for aggression against Vietnam in disregard of the repeated solemn warnings of the Chinese Government, and, on the other, it is steadily stepping up various hostile measures against China in Hong Kong. Particularly since the unfolding of the great proletarian cultural revolution in China, the British authorities in Hong Kong have carried out repeated military and police maneuvers hostile to China and aimed at the sanguinary suppression of Chinese residents in Hong Kong, vainly attempting to exclude the great influence of China's great proletarian cultural revolution by high-handed tactics. The persecution of Chinese residents and workers by the British authorities in Hong Kong by making use of the labor-capital dispute of the artificial plastic flower works is a big exposure of this criminal plan of sanguinary suppression. Their fascist atrocities have aroused boundless indignation among the Chinese residents in Hong Kong and the entire Chinese people. The Chinese Government hereby lodges the most urgent and the strongest protest with the British Government against these atrocities.

The sanguinary atrocities wholly perpetrated by the British authorities in Hong Kong show that they mortally fear and bitterly hate China's great proletarian cultural revolution. This great revolutionary movement, which is without Parallel in history, has dealt a telling blow to imperialism, modern revisionism, and world reaction, completely shattered their dream of counterrevolutionary capitalist restoration in China, and greatly encouraged and impelled the liberation struggles of the oppressed people and oppressed nations of the whole world. In particular, this great revolutionary movement has caused our Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong to love still more ardently the thought of Mao Tse-tung, and they are vigorously unfolding the movement of creative study and application of Chairman Mao's works. Armed with the ever victorious thought of Mao Tse-tung, the masses of our patriotic compatriots are more militant than ever in fighting imperialism. Frightened out of their wits by this, the British authorities in Hong Kong vainly attempted by violent suppression to restrict the influence of Mao Tse-tung's thought and to maintain their control, and thus committed the barbarous fascist atrocities.

The Chinese Government must sternly warn the British Government that in so doing you have completely miscalculated and misjudged your opponent. Succeeding to the glorious tradition of anti-imperialist struggle of over a century, the Chinese workers and residents in Hong Kong armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought are neither to be cowed nor crushed. Holding high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, they are resolute. fear no sacrifice, and are surmounting every difficult to win victory in this struggle against the atrocities committed by the British authorities in Hong Kong.

Heroic, staunch, and unyielding, they have greatly developed the glorious; anti-imperialist and patriotic tradition and are indeed fine sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, The British authorities in Hong Kong are blustering and baring their fangs, but as Chairman Mao, the great leader of the Chinese people, has pointed out: ‘in the final analysis, their persecution of the revolutionary people only serves to accelerate the people's revolutions on a broader and more intense scale." In sanguinarily suppressing Chinese residents, the British authorities in Hong Kong can only end up like one "lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet." 

The Chinese Government hereby solemnly declares: The Chinese Government and the 700 million Chinese people firmly support their compatriots in Hong Kong in their heroic and just struggle and resolutely stand behind them as their powerful backing. The Chinese Government demands in all seriousness that the British Government instruct the British authorities in Hong Kong as follows:

• Immediately accept all the just demands put forward by Chinese workers and residents in Hong Kong;
• Immediately stop all fascist measures;
• Immediately set free all the arrested persons (including workers, journalists, and cameramen);
• Punish the culprits responsible for these sanguinary atrocities, offer apologies, to the victims, and compensate for all their losses;
• Guarantee against the occurrence of similar incidents.

The British Government and the British authorities in Hong Kong must immediately and unconditionally accept the abovementioned solemn and just demands of the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government and people are determined to carry the struggle through to the end. Should the British Government and the British authorities in Hong Kong cling to their perverse course, they must be held responsible for all the grave consequences arising therefrom.

***

15 May 1967 [FBIS]

NCNA Hong Kong Branch Protest

Peking NCNA International Service in English 1945 GMT 14 May 1967—W

(Text) Hong Kong, 14 May--The Hong Kong branch of NCNA on 12 May sent five representatives to the British "governor's house" in Hong Kong to lodge a most serious protest with David Trench, British "governor of Hong Kong", The protest concerned the unjustifiable beating up by British police of Hong Kong branch NCNA correspondent Szeto Keung while he was carrying on his legitimate reporting activities near the Hong Kong artificial flower works at Sanpokong, Kowloon, on 11 May. The five representatives of the NCNA Hong Kong branch arrived at the British "governor's house" in Hong Kong at about 1500 on 12 May. David Trench avoided a meeting with them by sending his aide-de-camp to meet them. The angry representatives read aloud the message of protest.

The message of protest stated that Szeto Keung, reporter of NCNA, Hong Kong branch, was unjustifiably assaulted on the afternoon of 11 May while he was carrying out reporting activities near the Hong Kong artificial flower works at Sanpokong, Kowloon. The message of protest, addressed to David Trench, said: "It is you who has given orders to the Hong Kong police to perpetrate such fascist atrocities. This is not only a severe violation of freedom of news coverage for press reporters, but also sanguinary suppression and persecution of Chinese residents in Hong Kong and Kowloon, The entire staff of NCNA Hong Kong branch, lodge with you a most serious protest." The message of protest put forward to David Trench the following, three demands: 1) Severely punish the culprit, 2) make an apology to our reporter, and 3) guarantee [end of page in original document]. 

***

15 May 1967 [FBIS]

PEOPLE'S DAILY Commentator

Peking NCNA Domestic Service in Chinese 0114 GMT 15 May 1967—B

(Text of 15 May PEOPLE'S DAILY Commentator's article:

"The British authorities in Hong Kong must rein in on the brink")

(Text) Peking, 15 May--For days the British authorities in Hong Kong have been sending out in large numbers armed police and hooligans to carry out sanguinary suppression and frenzied persecution of Chinese workers, representatives of various circles, and young students in Hong Kong. More than 400 of our patriotic compatriots were arrested and brutally beaten up, and one died of serious injuries. Our government and people expressed great indignation and have lodged the strongest protest against this kind of fascist atrocities by the British authorities in Hong Kong. The sanguinary incident created by the British authorities in Hong Kong is entirely a premeditated, organized, and planned outrage, and is a frantic provocation against the Chinese people by the British Government.

Of late, the British Government has been ignoring the repeated warnings of our government and using the British facilities in Hong Kong to intensively serve the U.S. imperialist war of aggression in Vietnam. It has also, following in the wake of U.S, imperialism, adopted various measures in Hong Kong which are hostile to our country and has frenziedly engaged in anti-Chinese activities. The British Government, daring to antagonize the 700 million Chinese people, and becoming the anti-Chinese thug of U.S, imperialism, will only end up like one "lifting a rock only to drop it on his own feet."

The British authorities in Hong Kong have employed every means in an attempt to blockade and mitigate the powerful influence of our country's great proletarian cultural revolution, contain the growing patriotic sentiment of our compatriots in Hong Kong, and curb the recently aroused enthusiasm in the creative study and application of Chairman Mao's works. Now the British authorities in Hong Kong have resorted to the use of brutal means of sanguinary suppression, thus committing a heinous crime against our compatriots in Hong Kong. This will absolutely not be tolerated by the Chinese people. Chairman Mao has said: "All reactionaries are paper tigers." The sanguinary suppression carried out by the British authorities in Hong Kong can only demonstrate their weakness, They can never cow the patriotic compatriots in Hong Kong who are armed with Meo Tse-tung's thought.

In the face of suppression by the British armed police and fearless of brutalities, they shouted "Long live Chairman Mao!" raising high "Quotations From Chairman Mao," they read out loud: "Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory." They have demonstrated the fearless spirit of the Chinese People, They are the fine sons and daughters of the fatherland brought up by Mao Tse-tung's teaching.

The British authorities in Hong Kong, after having created a series of outrages instead of admitting their mistakes and repenting, attempted to further aggravate the situation. We sternly warn the British authorities in Hong Kong: The Chinese people armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought cannot be trifled with. Blood debts must be repaid in blood. Our government and people resolutely support the heroic and just struggle of the compatriots in Hong Kong and will resolutely stand behind them as powerful backing. We will not allow you to persecute as you please the patriotic compatriots in Hong Kong who are so near to us. You must immediately accept all the proper demands of the Chinese workers and residents in Hong Kong, immediately stop all fascist measures of repression, immediately set free all arrested persons, punish the culprits who are responsible for these sanguinary atrocities, offer apologies to the victims and compensate for all their losses, and guarantee against occurrence of similar incidents.

The statement of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pointed out in all seriousness: "The Chinese Government and Chinese people are determined to carry this struggle through to the end." If the British Government and the British authorities in Hong Kong do not pull back from the brink of the precipice and persist in their evil deeds, they will come to a disastrous end.

***

15 May 1967 [FBIS]

Peking Press Treatment

Peking NCNA International Service in English 0834 GMT 15 May 1967—W

(Text) Peking, 15 May--The PEOPLE'S DAILY and all other Peking papers today carry prominently news of the bloody, fascist suppression of Chinese nationals in Hong Kong carried out by the British authorities there in collaboration with the U.S. imperialists, and also the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement, which lodges the most vehement and urgent protest with the British Government with regard to its frenzied opposition to China. Apart from an editorial on the domestic issue of practicing economy in carrying out revolution, the PEOPLE'S DAILY front page is occupied by the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement and a commentary, entitled "British authorities in Hong Kong Must Rein in on the Brink." Subheadlines to the statement stress the following points: The Chinese workers and residents in Hong Kong; armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought, are neither to be cowed nor crushed and the Chinese Government and the 700 million Chinese people firmly support their compatriots in Hong Kong in their heroic and just struggle, resolutely stand behind them as their powerful backing, and are determined to carry the struggle through to the end.

A Hong Kong dispatch printed on the second page gives a detailed report of the bloody atrocities perpetrated by the British authorities in Hong Kong. Headlines in bold characters read: "Holding High the gread red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, patriotic Chinese nationals in Hong Kong and Kowloon advance wave upon wave in carrying out a dauntless and valiant struggle against persecution." The news is continued on the third page. Another Hong Kong dispatch reports that the staff members of the local branch of NCNA handed a letter to the British authorities in Hong Kong in which they lodged the most vehement protest with the British police in respect to their unwarranted beating up of Chinese correspondents and sternly demanded the severe punishment of the culprits, the offering of apologies to the Chinese correspondents, and the guarantee of freedom for correspondents reporting in Hong Kong. An inset picture on the page shows Chinese workers in Hong Kong handcuffed in pairs sitting in the back of a police van and holding up in their free hands their books on "Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung," in angry protest against the British authorities' fascist atrocities. 

The rest of the PEOPLE'S DAILY is devoted to news and articles on China's great proletarian cultural revolution and international issues. To make "Palestine Day," which falls today, a whole page is devoted to a commentary written for the occasion entitled "The Palestine People Will Certainly Win!" and to two NCNA reports. Of these, one is a statement to NCNA made by Rahid Said Gerbou, head of the mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Peking, pointing out that Mao Tse-tung's thought is guiding the Palestine people in marching victoriously forward and that armed struggle is the only way for achieving victory in the revolution. The second is a report headlined "Soviet Revisionism is the betrayer of the Palestine people." Pictures and information about "Palestine Day" are also carried.