CONFIDENTIAL
機密
2
(4) Even during this phase, the Chan group succeeded
in lobbying a certain amount of support from some post-secondary student leaders who, because of their own bias and inclinations, were more disposed to believe the radicals' version given by the Chan group. The student leaders suspected Principal Kwan of being reactionary and disciplin- arian, and deliberately vindictive and suppressive against the Chan group for having exposed the irregularities of the school management last year. They advocated that the Education Department should have carried out a detailed and impartial investigation before declaring its unequivocal support for Principal Kwan.
In contrast, the general public were inclined to view the Chan group as trouble-makers and rabble- rousers exploiting the gullibility of teenage
students.
(5) On the afternoon and evening of Friday, 12.5.78,
the media reported that the sit-in group had returned to the school, hinting that "things were getting back to normal". The further friction and confrontation in the school that afternoon were
not clearly reported and consequently not known by the public, who (according to HAD feedback on Saturday, 13.5.78) were glad that the dispute was likely to be settled soon.
(6)
Therefore the announcement of the closure of the school on 14.5.78 took the public completely by surprise. Mr. Haye gave a detailed press briefing that afternoon, but some of the crucial points were not covered by the media on Monday, 15.5.78. For example, the television stations interviewed mainly the critics and complainants, who expressed very biased views. In a welter of emotional outburst, they described the closure of the school as a high-handed suppressive measure
CONFIDENTIAL #2