}
Ote
id.
225
eft
lay
Jut
ley
isit
.nd
Idy
ent
rld
on
.7).
at
Ind
ide
*ter
'm-
ice.
the
ing
ver
me
hat
im.
he
ion
W.
ere
the
ists
tion
> to
осп
etc.
r io
lage
very
PART V PERSONS INVOLVED
95
345. From this and his subsequent activities it seems clear that he was endeavouring at this time to enlist support for further demonstrations that night. He told us that from Commercial Radio he went to the Star Ferry and was reading a newspaper on a bench near the Kowloon Canton Railway Station, when a person whom he did not know but who claimed to be a textile worker called YAM Har and one of LO Kei's supporters spoke to him. From there he went to the Y.M.C.A. (Kowloon) with YAM Har; then to a Workers' Club in an attempt to get the workers' reaction to the fare increases; together they then went to the Wong Tai Sin District.
346. Getting no support at any of these places he returned to the Star Ferry still accompanied by YAM Har and had an interview with a newspaper reporter, who told us in evidence that LO Kei said his visit to the Railway Station was to meet RAGGENSACK whom he expected to be there at 8.00 p.m. After this interview he had supper, he said, at YAM Har's invitation in a restaurant near the junction of Granville and Carnarvon Roads.
347. The ever-present feeling of unreliability flowing from a mixture of mendacity and confusion which pervaded LO Kei's evidence then became particularly apparent.
348. In evidence he told us that, at about 11.15 p.m. opposite the Princess Theatre, a large crowd surrounded him, seeking to shake his hand and that he was lifted on to a traffic sign and requested to make a speech by a crowd that was happy, talking and laughing, but was also shouting opposition to ferry fare increases. He said he uttered only four sentences 'Do not be afraid of arrest by the police because our peaceful demonstrations are legal'; 'Support Councillor, Mrs. ELLIOTT, and support the force in opposition to ferry fare increases to the end'. He claimed this was all he said and that after being hailed and clapped by the crowd he asked someone to organize pickets to maintain order but everybody volunteered. He said he then walked with the crowd up Nathan Road in the direction of the London Theatre, and that there were two English superintendents in civilian clothes and one Chinese superintendent in civilian clothes with a force of 60 officers walking along with them to keep them under surveillance and to give protection. When near the junction of Saigon Street, they were met with tear gas although they had done nothing up to that point. He said he did not look round to see what people behind him were doing but, in his opinion, no-one had thrown stones and he did not see any vehicles being burned and he did not see signs being pulled down. The first sign of violence, he claimed, was the hurling of the tear gas. He then went on to say he had not seen any uniformed police officers but only recognized a few plain clothes detectives. Under further examination he was emphatic that he had seen no stones being thrown, no tearing up of signs and no burning of vehicles. A well-dressed young man had come up and asked him in a threatening manner to overturn cars but he ran away and saw no cars being overturned until later when he alighted from a bus near the Shui Hing Store.