108
Cypher
IMMEDIATE
SECRET
No.656
SECRET
INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (The Secretary of State)
FROM HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
D. 21 May 1967
R.
11 21
141 OZ
Addressed to Commonwealth Office (D.T.D.) Repeated PRIORITY to Peking No.246
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POLAD Singapore No.114 Washington No.128
(C.O. please pass to all)
My telegram No.655.- 103
SITREP as at 21/2000.
Access to Government House was limited today to groups of twenty by blocking or cordoning access roads. Demonstrations were therefore kept in the centre of the city. The bottom of Garden Road was the main concentration area, the
crowd building up to about 1,000 by midday. It remained fairly orderly though the main core perhaps half, continued to bait the police and to exhort them to turn on their English masters. At 13.30 hours the mood became more ugly. Some windows were broken and the police moved in to disperse the crowd, which scattered but kept reforming.
2.' By 16.00 hours the centre of the disturbances moved about a quarter of a mile to the North West to the water front and particularly the area of the Post Office where a European was manhandled by the mob now about 2,000 strong. Over a period of an hour the police three times had to use tear gas. By 17.30 hours the crowd began rapidly to disperse and there have been no incidents since. Kowloon has remained quiet throughout.
30 Except for the European, who was not badly hurt, no casualties have been admitted to hospital. The police arrested 44 men the majority of them Left-wing workers living on the island.
440 We have no information on what we can expect tomorrow.
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