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PART III THE DISTURBANCES
39
id they quickly came under attack with stones from the crowd in the street and from e roofs and buildings on both sides. A baton charge was necessary; thereupon the n street crowds quickly withdrew into buildings, playing virtually a game of hide and seek with the platoon. No. 2 platoon was deployed on the eastern section of Nathan Road, No. 3 was sent southwards along Nathan Road to the junction of Gascoigne Road, where they were faced by a crowd which Mr. SHAVE described as being something between sullen and angry, a crowd which gradually became noisier and more violent. He had some anxieties as to the ability of a single platoon to deal with it and told his second platoon to go south and support the "third. By this time, members of the crowd were throwing stones at buses, which 10 were still jamming the northbound carriageway. They had, at first, ignored the presence of the third platoon but as the second platoon approached, the police came 10 under heavy stoning. Warnings to disperse were given and ignored and tear smoke was used, but the crowd quickly re-formed and returned to their original positions. This situation continued for about 45 minutes, when the area gradually became quieter. Mr. SHAVE then made contact with Mr. ROSE to the north and it was agreed that his company should remain in the Gascoigne Road area to provide a firm base while other companies went north and south along Nathan Road. On his way back to the Gascoigne Road junction after his meeting with Mr. Rose, Mr. SHAVE found that the police vehicles of his own and other companies parked near Man Ming Lane were being heavily attacked with stones from the side streets off Nathan Road. A European officer had been injured in the face whilst he and another officer and two constables were protecting the vehicles by firing baton shells down Man Ming Lane to keep the crowd at bay. Apart from this, the area round the junction was quieter although there were groups of people in various doorways on both sides of the street and larger groups of about 20 or 30 coming out of various side streets; turning back when faced by the police.
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n 149. So far we have been looking at the picture south of the junction between Waterloo Road and Nathan Road although the trouble had been spreading slowly northwards. Mr. ROSE had, at about 11.15 p.m., instructed the Sham Shui Po com- pany to move south to the Waterloo Road junction but they ran into difficulties. Before dealing with these, however, it is probably easier to keep the general picture in mind if we complete our survey of what happened south of Waterloo Road where, in addition to the Headquarters, the Yau Ma Tei and the Police Train- ing Contingent companies, the Marine company and the Kowloon City company were also coming into the picture. The former, which was standing by at Marine Police Headquarters, had been called out at about 11 p.m. and directed to go to the Yau Ma Tei Police Station, which they reached about 11.15 p.m. They were then told to go to the junction of Nathan Road and Waterloo Road. Mr. RINGER proceeded along Public Square Street and at its junction with Reclamation Street found a large crowd of several hundred persons but it was, he said, a happy sort of crowd, reasonably good humoured with no banners. When asked to disperse,
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