0003160 G.F. 316
SECRET
Copy No.
!....
SAVINGRAM
26
From:
The Governor, Hong Kong
Repeated:
P.A. to C. in C.F.E.
48
The Secretary of State for
Commonwealth Affairs
Peking
45
Tarsui
18
No.:
551
Manila
14
Date:
Ref.:
24th November, 1967 TS 2/57III
C. in C.F.3.
M.180
L.I.C. MONTHLY INTERNAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT
JULY 1967
1.
July was the third month of the confrontation between the communists and the Hong Kong Government. During the previous two months, communist street demonstrations and poster campaigns had not gained the support of the public and communist industrial action had failed to cripple the econor of the Colony. However, local communist leaders were determined to continue the struggle.
2.
The 2nd July was the last day of the four-day food strike. On that day livestock arrived from China, and by 3rd July the importation of large quantities of food had resumed and prices began to return to normal. To facilitate distribution, the comunist unions permitted dockers and lorr drivers still on strike to unload and transport produce using only communist owned vehicles. Meanwhile the steady return to work of strikers in public transport, utilities, port facilities and the textile industries continued and an attempted strike of baker workers on 4th July resulted in the closure of only fifteen per cent of the Colony's bakeries.
3.
Street demonstrations on a small scale continued during the first week of the month. On 3rd July a police car in Shum Shui Po was attacked by members of a crowd some 1,000 strong, which was eventually dispersed with the help of Greener (riot shotgun) gun fire. Three of the crowd wore injured.
On the same day the window of a police vehicle in the Tai Po area of the New Territories was broken by a crowd of on: hundred persons demonstrating against the removal of inflammatory posters. The comamist schools began their summer holidays end students became increasingly involved in demonstrations. On 5th July thirty students held a short demonstration outside the Education Department Headquarters and on 7th July Hon Wah Middle School students held a short procession in ..estern District. The staff of communist shops were also involved in demonstrations. On the evening of 6th July about one hundred employees of a China products store held a demonstration in Johnston Road, Wenchai. All these demonstrations were of short duration, and there were no indications that the communists were seeking a major clash with the security forces.
4.
The first pronouncement of the month from China came in a People's Daily Peking editorial for 5th July which called on patriots in Hong Kong to arouse the masses" and stated that enemies who had killed compatriots must pay with their lives. One of the main themes of this editorial vas a plea for unity of all patriotic and anti-imperialist forces in Hong Kong and consolidation of their ranks. This plea for unity and consolidation was necessary, for the local communists appeared to have no central control capable of co-ordinating and implementing the suggestions made by various circles for the furtherance of the confrontation campaign. Suggestions included refusal to pay Government taxes and fees, the staging of another food stroke and the holding of the funeral procession for martyrs (L.I.C. Internal Intelligence Report for June, paragraph 15 refers). In the event none of these materialised.
SECRET
150
This