SECRET
624
TOP SEEMED IN
ARCHIVES No. 63
Cypher/Cat.A
21 NOVJD67
IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
то
COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (D.T.D.)
Telno. 1720
HUID
20 November 1967
SECRET
взо
Addressed Commonwealth Office telegram No. 1720 of
20 November.
Repeated for information to POLAD Singapore, Washington and Canberra.
For Commonwealth Office and Cabinet Office for JIC.
Following from LIC.
!
Weekly assessment of the situation as at 200600 hours follows in two parts (part one only for Canberra):-
Part 1.
The principal features of the Communist confrontation during the period have been:
(a) The continuation of bomb incidents. 48 genuine and 255 "hoax" bombs were reported of which 7 exploded. A youth was injured by a device he picked up in the street and 7 civilians were injured by a bomb thrown at a police cordon party. During one incident, 7 bombs were thrown into the compound of a police station: 3 exploded. On 15 November, at Sek Kong military camp. a bomb placed against the wall of the Gurkha broadcasting centre caused slight damage to the building. No further injuries were caused and there were no known instances of the use of gelignite.
(b) A number of minor, short lived demonstrations, both in the streets and at Magistrates' courts. A number of arrests were made.
(c) The continued comparative calm of the border area, broken only by minor incidents at Sha Tau Kok. On 15 November a small bomb was thrown from Chinese territory (C.T.) at a military disposal team dealing with a "hoax" bomb planted near Sha Tau Kok police post, and on 19 November a civilian in C.T. fired a shot from a small calibre weapon at a Gurkha sentry outside the Sha Tau Kok clinic. No injuries were caused by either incident. On 14 November at Lo Wu, a new shunting engine was sent into C.T. to collect goods wagons. It returned painted with inflammatory slogans and bearing a portrait of Mao. The engine crew were required to chant Mao thoughts when they entered C.T.
(d) The continuation of anti-British propaganda in the Communist Press: the main theme has been to urge students to oppose government's "slavish education system". Criticism has been levelled at court cases against students of Communist controlled schools and publicity given to related protest meetings held on school premises. The new Public Order Bill has been described as a "Fascist Law" and an amendment to the legislation on citizen's power of arrest attacked as an "attempt to control Chinese by Chinese". The arrest by police of two members of the Standing Committee of the All Circles Anti-Persecution Struggle Committee (paragraph 2 refers) was condemned and appeals made for "firm counter attacks against the enemy".
SECRET
/". Police action.
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