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PART III THE DISTURBANCES
still, according to the J.L.O., in a good humour but a little later he met a small stone-throwing crowd of youths outside the President Hotel, who appeared to be in an angry mood. One of the youngsters cried 'Juvenile Liaison Officer strike the car' and some stones were thrown.
153. We have had a somewhat similar picture from a newspaper reporter, who, having observed what had occurred north of Jordan Road, followed a police company down Nathan Road towards Tsim Sha Tsui. When it stopped at Austin Road he went ahead and near Haiphong Road at about 11 o'clock he saw a group of young people smashing traffic signs and parking meters. He said there were a lot of people watching but only about ten actively engaged in breaking things. He saw a crowd outside Mirador Mansion surrounding an American and threatening him; members of the crowds saying, ‘Ah, that is a European. Let us beat him up', but the American was very calm and kept smiling saying, 'I am on your side' and finally the crowd left him alone. The reporter said that on the whole the crowd in this area appeared somewhat different from the crowd who were destroying traffic signs in Yau Ma Tei. They appeared to him to be somewhat better or more carefully dressed. As the police came on down the road, the crowd dispersed into the side streets, but he speaks then of a shower of bottles and other missiles coming down from roofs and higher floors.
154. As already mentioned, Headquarter company continued southwards, putting out fires and clearing the debris. They found a great deal of damage had been done to parking meters etc. in the Kimberley Road area. Road signs had been pulled down and set alight with kerosene, apparently taken from road work lanterns. Rubbish bins were scattered across the road and attempts had been made to set cars and motor cycles alight. When they arrived near the Chung King Mansions, a very large number of missiles and litter and bottles came down from the high buildings. Ahead of them a Fire Services tender, which was engaged in putting out a burning traffic pagoda, was attacked, but the attackers quickly dispersed when the police arrived. Apart from a move northwards to deal with rioting and reported looting at 229 Nathan Road-which turned out to be un- necessary as the Kowloon City company was in the area they remained in the Tsim Sha Tsui area which was, by now, generally quiet, although occasional missiles were still coming down from the high buildings and the company was occupied until relieved by a company from Hong Kong Island in enforcing the curfew which had come into force at 1.30 a.m.
155. Meanwhile, the Kowloon City company had been moving south to carry out the pincer movement described in para. 151. When this company formed up at the Austin Road junction they found the road littered with rubbish, wooden boxes and bus signs; traffic lights were damaged and many stationary buses were stranded with flat tyres. The crowd in the area, however, quickly dispersed on the arrival of the police, but as these continued north, missiles including flower
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