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PART III THE DISTURBANCES
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123. Of the 17/18 persons present, 14 were under the age of 25 and their [occupations were reported as students, workers and unemployed. LO Kei was not present, but his absence seems to have excited no comment from the others which, in view of the prominent part he had played in earlier events, suggests that they did not expect him to attend.
124. Accounts of what took place at the interview vary very considerably, probably because, owing to the absence of the main instigator LO Kei, no one was very sure apparently not even Mr. BERNACCHI-what the real object of the meeting was. It would appear that after the slight initial confusion due to the seating requirements of the unexpected numbers had been overcome, Mr. BERNACCHI opened the meeting by referring to the five written statements he had been given, but he did not apparently notice that the writer of one of them was not present. First RAGGENSACK spoke for the demonstrators, giving an account of the previous night's demonstration and in it he expressed the opinion that the majority of the participants that evening had come upon the demonstration purely fortuitously and had joined in for the fun of it. After this, SO Sau Chung did a lot of talking and in a rather rambling speech, explained that his demonstration was directed not only at the ferry fares but at the Hong Kong Government, which he thought was out of date. He also referred to Singapore gaining her in- dependence.
125. It would appear that by this time Mr. BERNACCHI had sized up the situation, for a number of witnesses stated that he then tried to turn the discussion from constitutional reform and Singapore's independence back to the matter of the Star Ferry fares and that he advised the demonstrators with regard to the law in respect of processions and demonstrations and emphasized the need for Police permission to hold demonstrations. The evidence of LEE Tak Yee and Miss LUI indicates that he advised against further demonstrations and proposed an alternative method of ventilating public feeling in a lawful manner. His proposal was that the Reform Club should sponsor a public meeting in the Government Stadium and, after some discussion, it was agreed that Police permission should be sought for a public meeting on 23rd April at which the ferry fare issue would be discussed. An application was accordingly made on 7th April. This application was refused on 9th April after rioting had broken out on two nights in Kowloon.
126. The participants in the meeting left their names and some their addresses so that they could be contacted to assist in the public meeting by distributing hand bills. The evidence given to us indicates that no mention was made of holding further street demonstrations immediately and that some of the young people- especially the fringe members-seemed satisfied with the decision to postpone further activity until the public meeting on 23rd April. Even AU YEUNG, whose evidence was generally hostile to Mr. BERNACCHI in that he denied hearing any- thing said about meetings without police permission being illegal or any advice