Report No... HK.113..
Length 10' 40"
79
Transmitted on.
BBC Television "Twenty-Four Hours"
Date 9th January, 1968. Time 9.55 p.m.
Short Title Situation in Hong Kong..
Cliff Michelmore:
Last year, the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong was suddenly caught up in the revolution
going on in communist China, riots, bomb explosions, demonstrations and strikes swept Hong Kong and Julian Pettifer reported then for "Twenty-Four Hours". Now, on his way back to Vietnam, he's been through Hong Kong again.
Julian Pettifer:
This time last year, I was reporting
on the activities of the Red Guards who brought such turmoil
to the neighbouring Portuguese Colony of Macao. And I can remember standing right here and speculating on whether
the shock-waves of China's cultural revolution would be felt in Hong Kong during 1967. Well, of course, they were and, for proof, you only have to look at the New
Year's Honours List, which contains the names of no less
than 22 Hong Kong policemen, including the Commissioner, and a bomb disposal expert, who were all honoured for the part they played in helping to restore order to the gravely- troubled Colony.
Grand Am
I was remembering, too, the bands of Red Guards closing
in on Government House, chanting quotations from the
"Thoughts of Chairman Mao" and most unnerving of all, I
SHA TAU KOK recalled the incident at Château Coque on the border when men and Chinese attacked a British police post, killing
five men and bringing a dangerously tense situation to the frontier area. In those summer days, Hong Kong trembled and many of the rich and middle-class Chinese