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PART III THE DISTURBANCES
ELLIOTT agreed to go and see his parents. Meanwhile, LO Kei sought the use of a telephone and telephoned at 7.20 p.m. to the duty officer at Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station, who gave evidence to the effect that the speaker gave his name and stated that he was the leader of a demonstration and they would be holding a procession that evening in Nathan Road as a protest against the proposed Star Ferry fare increase, that ten or more would be taking part but without carrying signs or slogans and that they would keep the procession in good order. Asked for his address, he gave it and a telephone number but hung up immediately thereafter. When the duty officer phoned back to the number as a routine check, has was not available there. Apparently no mention was made on either side of the need for, or intention to seek, a permit. We were also told by RAGGENSACK of what may have been another telephone call by LO Kei at this juncture to which we will refer later.
97. Information had already reached the police in Kowloon that demonstra- tors would be coming from Hong Kong to Kowloon to solicit signatures and Mr. SUTCLIFFE (Acting Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police in Kowloon) had given instructions that, provided they did not cause obstruction, they were not to be interfered with at the Star Ferry, but their movements should be watched by uniformed and plain clothes police.
98. The Demonstration March. After visiting SO's parents with Mrs. ELLIOTT and bringing his mother back to Central Police Station to visit her son, the young people walked to the Star Ferry where they met the rest of the group which had demonstrated outside the Central Government Offices. They then crossed the harbour to Kowloon and stood at the ferry concourse for a few minutes shouting slogans and collecting signatures from passers-by.
99. Around 9.15 p.m., this group, now amounting to about 20, began to move down Salisbury Road away from the Star Ferry and into Nathan Road, walking on the east side of the road and carrying three or four banners and placards. They proceeded as far north as Bute Street, which they reached about 10.10 p.m., chanting, 'We object to the increase' and occasionally asking members of the public to sign the petition against the increases. They then turned round and moved south again, but diverted briefly into Kimberley Road and Carnarvon Road, reaching the Star Ferry concourse at about 11.20 p.m. The crowd was growing a little all the time. The estimates of its size when it got back to the Star Ferry varied between 30 and 300. No doubt it was a matter of some difficulty to distinguish who was actually a member of the crowd and who was merely an interested onlooker, possibly following the group for a short period: probably it was about 150 strong, mainly youths. The photographs at Plates 4-7 show the demonstrators at different stages of the march and give a clear impression of the mood of the demonstration.
100. At about 11.30 p.m. they were addressed by LO Kei and RAGGENSACK near the Star Ferry Concourse and the crowd began to grow larger and rowdier.
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