odo3160 G.F. 316
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9.
3.
During the incidents on 10th July a New China News Agency (H.C.N.A.) reporter (c) SIT Fing (m) HSUEH Ping was arrested in Eastern District for unlawful assembly. On the evening of 11th July the C.P.G. protested to Britain concerning this arrest and demanded his release. Persecution of other N.C...A. personnel in Hong Kong was alleged also. A similar protest by N.C.N.A. Peking followed on 12th July, and it is perhaps significant that the Peking authorities appeared to be more interested in the fortunes of arrested communist journalists than in the arrests or deaths of "patriotic" demonstrators.
A
10.
On the evening of 12th July two branches of the Hotor Transport Workers' Union, members of which were believed to be involved in the violent attacks on public transport, were raided by police, with the military providing cordon parties, the first use of military personnel in the urban areas. number of persons were arrested. On the same evening continued mob violence on both sides of the harbour resulted in a curfew being imposed on Northern Hong Kong Island at 8 p.m. and in Western Kowloon at 11 p.m. Police opened fire on a number of occasions and two rioters were killed. That night the bodies of previous "martyrs" of confrontation were taken from the mortuaries,
here they had lain unclaimed by relatives, and buried by Government.
11.
The 13th July was a more peaceful day although bombs were thrown at two police stations and at public vehicles. Folice action continued with raids on the Hung Hom premises of the Kowloon Dock Workers' Amalgamated Union and an adjoining communist school. The police were heavily attacked with missiles, acid and fire bombs by persons inside the premises and tear gas and firearms had to be used before entry could be effected. The paid secretary of the Union was shot dead during the raid and eighty persons were arrested, including the Union Chairman and six other office bearers, all of whom were charged. The example of police resolve given by this raid had a similar effect to that achieved by the police siege of the Rubber and Plastic Workers' General Union in June, (L.I.C. Internal Intelligence Report for June, paragraph 17 refers) and further raids during the month met with little real resistance. Communist morale dropped to its pre-8th July level, and apart from some incidents in Tsuen Wan on the evening of 15th Jul when two demonstrators were killed and twelve others arrested, this phase of mob violence was nearing its end.
12.
The communist leadership however were still calling for defiance of Government and two All Circles Anti Persecution Struggle Comittee (A.C.A.P.S.C.) statements published in the local communist press on 15th and 20th July amounted almost to calls for an armed insurrection. China contributed with a People's Daily commentator's article on 16th July which called on Hong Kong compatriots to "advance with determined effort and wage a repeated struggle". The local communists, however, were by now becoming disillusioned with the lack of tangible support from China, and it was noticeable that pronouncements from Peking were no longer issued as special editions of local communist newspapers.
13.
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The last major communist action on the industrial front came on 17th July when the Hong Kong Seamen's Union (H.K.S.U.) called a harbour strike of Chinese crew members of ships calling at Hong Kong. The H.K.S.U. had always been considered one of the strongest communist unions in the Colony and its successes against the managellents of several local shipping companies earlier in the year (L.I.C. Internal Intelligence Reports for arch and April refer) gave every reason to believe that the strike call would be effective. This action, however, came too late for the communist industrial challenge had been met in June when strikes against both Government and private companies were rebuffed, and it is known that leading officials of the H.K.S.U. were not optimistic over the outcome. In fact, the strike call received poor general response and success was confined to crews of ships trading with China who were exposed to communist pressure while in mainland ports. C.P.G. business concerns in Hong Kong attempted to support the strike by holding up cargoes from China and falsely informing foreign importers that Hong Kong harbour was strike bound.
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The
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