32
PART III THE DISTURBANCES
and Mr. FERGUS, fearing a breach of the peace, arrested the young man but he wer noted no further development at that particular juncture. A photograph of the 9.15 arrest is at Plate 11. He then moved on towards the Star Ferry, following the up receipt of a report from Headquarters about a crowd gathering there, but finding the none, he returned up Nathan Road. Reports, in the meantime, had been coming The in of a crowd further north and, at the junction of Nathan Road and Public Squart con Street, he found a crowd of about 1,000 persons moving north, the same sort of one composition, mainly young men and youths with a few women and older men The This appears to have been a fresh concentration of the crowd that had beer sto following the arrested youngster, and it was this crowd or part of it which, at some bea stage, may have been carrying the placard 'Long live the Nationalist Government Str of China' found abandoned on the road near the Princess Theatre-the only aft suggestion throughout the whole of our proceedings of any external political hap motive in the disturbances. As the police came up, stones and bamboo poles and were thrown. Mr. FERGUS took his men past the crowd; they then alighted and a s faced about; warnings to disperse were given by loud hailer and by banner but these were ignored. A baton charge was ordered but a second charge was necessary Th before the crowd dispersed.
oth
Str
132. Apart from the menace of the crowd advancing on the Yau Ma Tei Police kej Station at an earlier stage, this was the first incident retailed to us where the In crowd attempted to assault the police, and as the period and area seem to have in been critical in the transition to violence, we propose to recount events here as sp seen through a number of different eyes. In addition to testimony from the its commanders of the police companies who were engaged in dealing with the Sq crowds we have evidence from press photographers and reporters as well as from some demonstrators and rioters and a very useful written statement contained in a report of the Police Juvenile Liaison Officer which was made available to us. WE
to
133. Situation in Nathan Road prior to outbreak of rioting. The J.L.O. and be his officers, who are engaged in administering what is known as the 'Liverpool' a system and thus keep a particularly close contact with juveniles and young persons, at were spread out before 8.00 p.m. in the area of Nathan Road between Tsim Sha ba Tsui and Sham Shui Po. His report tells how he observed, from a distance, a proces- th sion of youths, who had been congregating at the Star Ferry, Kowloon; shortly after re 8.00 p.m. they moved off in the direction of Nathan Road. They were in a to happy and playful mood, apparently enjoying the limelight and posing, without bu objection, for any newspaper photographer who was interested: placards and at notices were being hurriedly written as the procession moved northwards up A Nathan Road. Very few of those involved were over the age of 21 and the al youngest were in the region of nine or ten years old. A photograph of some of this in group is at Plate 10. Pedestrians of all types and ages were seen to shout en- couragement. The procession gradually increased in numbers and then split into F several smaller processions which doubled back on the route several times. There
P
n(