Cypher
COPY FOR REGISTRATION
CONFIDENTIAL
INWARD TELEGRAM
TO THE COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
(The Secretary of State)
FROM HONG KONG (Sir D. Trench)
D. 24 June 1967 R. 23
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1967
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2.56
IMMEDIATE
CONFIDENTIAL No.894
Addressed to Commonwealth Office Repeated to: Peking No.353
POLAD Singapore No.190 Washington No.196
IN
No. 63
(Please pass PRIORITY to all)
آراد
(252)
My telegram No. 875.
HWA i/n
Sitrep as at 232359.
that
During the afternoon it became clear that a strike in essential services, particularly transport, was imminent. Shift workers failed to report on both the bus companies, in Kowloon being particularly affected. The electricity company in Kowloon also suffered and the telephone company is expected to follow suit.
20
At the same time an increasingly truculent attitude was demonstrated by the opposition in Kowloon. A Police party dealing with seditious posters outside the Rubber and Plastic Workers Union H.Q. was attacked by 14 men with bludgeons. Two policemen were wounded. One shot was fired resulting in the death of one assailant. A Police raid on the union H.Q. subsequently obtained access with great difficulty and after some resistance. Thirty men were arrested, including the union Chairman who had jumped his bail after arrest in early May. series of hit and run attacks were also mounted in Kowloon mainly by hooligans. These included the burning of a car in which a Government servant was seriously injured. So far no curfew has been imposed.
A
30 There is a slight chance of a skeleton bus service in Kowloon tomorrow. Services in Hong Kong Island will probably be halved. The ferries are expected to continue unaffected. Strikes in the electric light companies may well occur but are not expected to affect services immediately. There will inevitably be incidents between pickets and workers in public transport willing to work.
40 Emergency legislation has been introduced to combat intimidation and the two main power stations have been declared closed areas to protect them against interference by pickets or possible sabotage.
(Passed as requested)
LAST
R
RLF
252
(Passed D.S.A.0. for Resident Clerk and for advance copies to
Private Secretary to Commonwealth Secretary, Messrs.
dea Mare, Bolland and Wilson, Far East Dept. Foreign Office)
/Distribution
258
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CONFIDENTIAL
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