TNAG-0016-FCO40-52-Kowloon-disturbances-1968 — Page 130

2.

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Hong Kong telegram No. 1876 to Commonwealth Office

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volley of stones at buildings in British territory from a small group of armed militiamen and villagers in CT which caused no injury or damage: the second on the following day when a group of labourers from CT held a short meeting inside BT at Man Kam To during which they displayed a portrait of Mao and sang songs The repair of the primary fence and removal of the secondary, fence continued without interference.

Limited police action has continued mainly in connection with bomb planting: a number of young students from Communist controlled schools have been arrested for possession of inflamm- atory posters. The man who was shot and injured during the attack on two police constables on 9 December has been charged with murder, and the other attacker has been identified. It has been established that the group responsible for this attack was also involved in at least one other seizure of arms from a police officer in the new territories. Five members of the group are detained and investigations are continuing to identify members; agus of a similar group who are believed to have been involved in bomb incidents in the area. All of those arrested in this case are local Communists who are associated either through their employment as masons or through residence in the Un Long area of the

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3. It is clear that the Communist labour movement intends to exploit devaluation by initiating a series of wage claims. achieve this, union organisation will have to be strengthened and an overt control structure re-established, which will entail either the reappearance of a number of the union leaders who are in hiding or their substitution by new figures. The mounting of a campaign of this nature may indicate that the Communist labour leaders are preparing for a return to more normal conditions. Any success achieved will, undoubtedly, be ascribed to the works or Mao and in this context, the exhibition and mass study meetings to be held at the FTU Worker's Club, are clearly part or the current attempt to consolidate support within Communist labour circles. Attendance at these functions will also provide the FTU with an opportunity to assess the present strength of the Communist labour movement.

4. Apart from the senior NCNA official who returned to Hong Kong on 7 December, the local Communist leaders who visited China at the end of October are still absent. It is significant that although continuing to publish strong anti-Government propaganda, the Communist newspapers are still ignoring bomb incidents. Although genuine bombs appear from time to time, the number of hoax bombs has decreased sharply, and the lack of approbation in the Communist Press may now be discouraging some of the local militants.

/C.O. pass

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