TNAG-0012-FCO40-48-Kowloon-disturbances-1967 — Page 49

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

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types of food it was hardly noticed. Supplies from China resumed on the 2 July, and for the past few days there has been a glut of food on the markets, resulting in a drop of prices. Some pressure, however, has been exerted by the Communists on dealers in and carriers of food from China in an attempt to ensure ti only those who fully support the confrontation handle CPG goods and produce. Dealers in poultry and eggs who did not close during the stoppage are being black- listed and told that they will receive no further supplies of these commodites from China.

(e) An attempt to call a one day strike in local bakeries

on the 4 July met with little success and only a few of the smaller bakeries closed down completely.

(a) The holding of memorial services by individual Communist

organisations for workers who have died in the confrontation. There has been considerable talk over the past few days in various Communist spheres of a mass funeral procession for the three "martyrs" who died as a result of incidents on the 8 June. (See my telegram No. 831) whilst the Communist leadership is reluctant to risk another major confrontation on the streets it could be forced to give way to pressures from below.

(e) The visit of three small student delegations to the

head office of the Education Department to protest about the arrest of students by the police, One of these delegations chanted slogans for a few minutes and put up a number of posters on the building before departing.

(f) Propaganda in the local Left Wing press has continued

to make exaggerated claims about the success of the strike action undertaken by the Communists. The police force remains the major target for attack and following the charging of three policemen with "inflicting grievous bodily harm" on a prisoner, the Communist press has, in an attempt to split the force, claimed that these three are being made "scapegoats". Senior Chinese police officers have received letters purporting to originate from friends of an ex-police superintendent who was deported in 1962 for involvement in Chinese Intelligence Service activities, They call on the addressees to "change sides in the present struggle".

(g) A "Peoples Daily" editorial on the 5 July, subsequently

reprinted in a special edition of the local Left Wing press, which calls on "compatriots" in Hong Kong to persist with the struggle until victory is achieved. Mention is made also of "mobilising the several hundred thousand students".

(h) A number of very minor incidents on the border such as

setting off a firecracker at Sha Tau Kok near the police post and the haranguing of officers on duty near the border, no injuries or damage resulted from these incidents.

(i) Meetings of representatives of Communist banking and

commercial organisations and businessmen who have dealings with CPG trading agencies, at which the

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