101. A crowd of about 300 people remained in sight in the Chinese side of the village but all remained quiet. Later in the evening a Police platoon engaged in recovering the damaged armoured cars received a shower of stones and bottles and was fired at by air guns. There were no casualties and the night passed without further incident.
102. This incident was followed by a protest from the Peking Government (the first official protest since the start of confrontation) which alleged that tear gas shells had been fired into Chinese territory and reiterated that the demands made by the communists in Hong Kong in May must be accepted.
103. During the following days there was an uneasy calm. The trial of the Sha Tau Kok rioters at the Fanling Magistracy attracted a crowd but there was no trouble. On 27th June a procession which grew to some 5,000 persons, including members of the militia armed with rifles and automatic weapons, demonstrated in the area opposite Lo Wu. They marched through the railway station on the Chinese side and then dispersed. More processions were seen on subsequent days; there was some mild stone throwing at Sha Tau Kok and on 30th June a bomb exploded in front of the Police post producing a loud report and a cloud of smoke but doing no damage.
104. This period of comparative calm ended on 8th July when the communists returned to the attack in force. During the morning crowds built up in the whole border area. At Lo Wu there were about 600 people shouting and singing and their numbers were increasing; and a mob of about 10,000 people was seen marching South from Shum Chun. There were hostile and menacing crowds during the day at both Lo Wu and Man Kam To but the attack was confined to Sha Tau Kok. More machine guns were set up and an anti-aircraft gun was sited in the Chinese side of the village. Soon after 11 a.m. a mob streamed across the border and, after brief demonstrations during which they shouted, sang and waved banners, attacked the Police post. One company of Police fired tear gas and baton shells and succeeded in dispersing part of the crowd but then came under machine gun fire and had to retreat to the Rural Committee office. Both this company and the company in the Police post were then subjected to a hail of machine gun and rifle fire. The main attack fell on the Police post. An attempt was made to blow up the perimeter wire and an incendiary bomb set fire to some tents behind the post. The Police retaliated with greener guns and killed at least one of the attackers but were immedi-
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