SECRET
2.
(c)
(a)
(e)
On two occasions at Lo Wu and once at Shataukok the C.C.A. have intervened to prevent hooligans from throwing stones on the latter occasion at an officer dismantling a bomb,
The continued disruption of supplies by rail from China. Although supplies of food are being maintained at a satisfactory level, deliveries by road and sea are erratic and there have been price rises apparently caused by uncertainty as to future supplies; and
Anti-British propaganda in the local Communist press, which continues to make exaggerated claims about the effects on the economy of the Colony caused by the confrontation. Protests appear daily in the newspapers about police action against Communist personalities and premises, and widespread publicity was given to the "success" achieved by the peasants at Man Kam To. An article published in the People's Daily on 7 August, which denounced the Government action in Hong Kong and claims that "Hong Kong and Kowloon have been part of Chinese territory throughout history", was also prominently reported.
Police action against Communist organisations, in some cases assisted by military forces, has continued as a result of which further quantities of offensive weapons and inflammatory posters and some documents of intelligence interest, have been seized. The major operation of the week, in which helicopters were used, was against a complex of three buildings, two being 27 storeys high, which were suspected of housing a number of Communist leaders as well as people who had been involved in incidents on the ground. In the event a Senior Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the All Circles Anti-Persecution Struggle Committee and two mid- level union leaders were arrested and subsequently detained under the Deportation of Aliens Ordinance.
3.
On the morning of 9 August, five persons responsible for the editing, publishing and printing of three of the independently-owned pro-Communist newspapers were arrested. They have been charged with various offences arising from seditious material etc., which has appeared in their newspapers. Reaction in the left-wing press to these arrests has, so far, concentrated upon a demand for their immediate release, allegations of an attack upon the freedom of the press and a declaration of an intention to continue publication as before.
4.
The Communist leadership continues to lie low and there are no indications that the various incidents of the past week have been under any form of centralised control.
5.
The morale of members of Communist organisations is still very low and many of them feel that confrontation will not succeed until the Chinese Communist Army intervenes. Despite this, in the course of discussions held in Communist concerns, stress is laid on the fact that the local Comminist movement must succeed by its own efforts and cannot rely on intervention by the C.C.A.
SECRET
16.