Ta Kung Pao May 31, 1967
Persecution and Anti-Persecution in Hongkonk
(Continued on page 5) mounted surprise attacks on local people, beating them up and arresting another 100 and more.
According to figures announced by the British authorities themselves on the morning of May 14, a total of 391 Chi- nese compatriots in Hongkong had been arrested after May 11.
Reporters Beaten
Two reporters on the Hongkong Ta Kung Pao' were seriously injured when they were assaulted and beaten up by a group of agents sent by the British au- thorities in Hongkong on May 15.
The Hongkong 'Ta Kung Pao' reports on May 16 that when the 'Ta Kung Pao' extra carrying the statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry reached Sanpo- kong district on the afternoon of May 15, the residents cheered it jubilantly and passed on the news by word of mouth.
'Ta Kung Pao' reporters Yang Tsu- tun and Huang Tse were sent to cover the news. When they went to Yin Hing Street, eight or nine agents sent by the British Hongkong authorities suddenly pounced on them, knocked them to the ground and kicked them, inflicting severe injuries. The agents robbed the report- ers of their cameras, film and other be- longings before they jumped into wait- ing taxis and left.
Then, about a dozen newsmen went to protest at the 'governor's house', wearing badges with a profile of Chair- mau Mao and carrying red-covered copies of 'Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung'. The 'governor David Trench, did not turn up and instead sent his alde-de-camp to meet the newsmen.
The newsmen recited quotations from Chairman Mao. Then, on behalf of the newsmen present, Yang Tsu-kun lodged
strong and emphatic protest.
Arrested Chinese Persecuted According to Hsinhua news release on May 16, while wantonly suppressing Chinese residents in Hongkong, the Bri- tish Hongkong authorities have for the past few days brutually persecuted Chi- nese workers, students and other residents who were taken to police stations or prisons without justification.
Some who were persecuted have re- vealed that a dozen or so detainees were crammed into each cell and were given a small amount of stinking sour rice and water every day. All the arrested, including children of ten or so, were brutally beaten up so that many vomited blood or fainted.
Even the injured were beaten up on the way to hospital by plain-clothesmen on board the ambulances.
One worker reported that once ten imprisoned Chinese were driven into a room by fascist thugs hired by the Bri- tish Hongkong authorities. There they were forced to sit on a number of low benches, They were then set upon by a dozen or so thugs and attacked with fists and boots. This went on for well over one hour.
Another worker said that the British Hongkong authorities bitterly hated the great invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung and China's young Red Guards. He recounted how when he was being ques- tioned, he courageously accused a fascist thug of slandering Chairman Mao, and that thug viciously attacked him.
A bank clerk was brought to the pelice station along with other persecut- ed residents. One of the British thugs asked which of them had read aloud quotations from Chairman Mao. This bank clerk stepped out bravely and said that it was he. When he was asked to read, he immediately recited in a loud voice this quotation from Chairman
(May 4--May 22, 1967)
Mao: 'be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every difficulty to win victory.' While he was doing so, a group of thugs rained blows upon him and went on doing so for about ten minutes. On the next day, these thugs beat him up again. Some slapped him in the face or hit him in the stomach. He was knocked from the chair and kicked in the chest.
A photographer indignantly related how after being unjustifiably taken to the police station, he was searched. When a thug found on him a booklet of 'Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse- tung', he immediately shouted to the other thugs 'give those who carry the booklet of quotations a sound beating'. With that, these fascist thugs severely beat him and a number of others. While they were beating up people, these fascists cried: 'you have the song "sail- ing the seas depends on the man at the helm". Well, here in the jail we de- pend on our thugs."
Situation Worsens
The situation in Hongkong worsened on May 17 as the British authorities in Hongkong showed no sincere desire to ease the grave situation. In Kowloon at dusk, the sound of the firing wooden projectiles filled the air. The British authorities sent out marine police and big and small police vans to carry out fresh sanguinary suppression.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, the committee of Hongkong-Kowloon com- patriots of all circles to fight against persecution by the British authorities in Hongkong sent 17 representatives to the British Hongkong 'Governor's House' to lodge the strongest protest with the 'Governor' David Trench. Not having the least intention of easing the grave situation he alone had created, David Trench refused to meet the represen- tatives.
The gate of the British Hongkong 'Governor's House' was shut this morn- ing and large numbers of troops and police were on sentry duty outside. Many more soldiers and police lay in ambush within the 'Governor's House', keeping a watch outside.
When the representatives of the com- mittee of Hongkong-Kowloon compatriots arrived at the 'Governor's House', David Trench instructed his 'aide-de-camp' A.I. Harrison to stop them from entering the gate. Enraged, Yang Kuang, Chair- man of the Council of the Hongkong- Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions, solemnly declared: 'By ignoring the solemn demands of the more than three million of our countrymen in Hongkong and Kowloon, David Trench has shown himself to have no sincere wish at all to solve the problem. Therefore David Trench must bear full responsibility for all the grave consequences therefrom.'
The same morning, thousands upon thousands of Chinese residents gathered on Nathan Road in Kowloon to protest against the British Hongkong 'Court' for illegally trying innocent Chinese com- patriots. The British Hongkong au- thorities once again sent out large batches of riot police' to wantonly beat up and arrest Chinese residents. They fired wooden projectiles and tear gas bombs at them. The Chinese residents in Hongkong and Kowloon fought back staunchly for several hours against these outrages of the enemy. The British Hongkong authorities then announced a curfew from 7:30 p.m. in the south- west district of Kowloon.
According to reports received. that morning the British Hongkong 'Court', brushing aside the strong protests of Hongkong-Kowloon compatriots of all circles, went so far as to order the re-arrest of the 20 workers of the arti-
ficial flower works whom they had been forced to release.
Children Not Spared According to Hsinhua news release on May 18, Chinese children and teena- gers in Hongkong put up a courageous fight in the face of harsh persecution by the British authorities in Hongkong,
A daring youngster expressed the mood of all when he said: 'Since I'm not afraid of death, why should I be afraid of the British paper tiger?'
Many children, while brutally beaten by the fascist thugs, shielded others with their own bodies, for they knew well what Chairman Mao said about the imperialists and reactionaries as paper tigers.
The fascist persecution of Chinese children in Hongkong over the past few days is astonishing. A 13-year-old was beaten to death, while many children ranging from 10 to 15 years of age have been sentenced to imprisonment of from two to six months...
Thugs hired by the British Hongkong authorities have been seen chasing, beat- ing and rounding up children in the streets and bouses. They even fire wooden projectiles and tear gas shells against them.
On the afternoon of May 13, hun- dreds of British Hongkong thugs wan- tonly attacked people in a house in the Wongtaisin Re-settlement Estate in Kow- loon, chasing them from the first floor up to the sixth and beating people up. A number of youngsters were knocked to the ground and trampled on by fascist thugs. A 13-year-old child faint- ed on a landing, bleeding from the face.
In some places, children were en- circled and clubbed by thugs. A child's arm was broken and many others were beaten black and blue before thrown into police vans.
Wave of Protests
According to Hsinhua news release on May 19, an angry wave of protest against the criminal bloody atrocities of the British authorities is surging through Hongkong as the British authorities continue to expand the incident in pre- paration for further sanguinary sup pression of Chinese compatriots.
Since May 12, shouts of 'patriotism is no crime, resistance against violence is justified' and singing of Chinese revo- lutionary songs have been ringing out about the 'Governor's House'.
The British Hongkong ‘Governor' David Trench by his continued refusal to meet representatives of Chinese compatriots of all circles in Hongkong has aroused even greater indignation among them. On May 18, from morning to evening, re- presentatives of more than sixty Chinese organisations including the Hongkong branch of the Hsinhua News Agency, trade unions, cinemas, banking and trad- ing organisations, schools and newspapers streamed to the British 'Governor's House' to lodge strong protest with David Trench. Much alarmed, they shut the iron gate.
David Trench refused to come out to meet the representatives. The crowds, waving red-covered 'Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung', shouted slo- gans of protest and pasted the iron gate and the walls with massages of protest written in big Chinese characters. About a hundred drivers blocked the street out- side the 'Governor's House' with numer- ous buses, taxis and lorries covered with slogans of protest. Traffic was held up for 15 minutes.
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On May 19, about 700 representatives of Chinese nationals of all circles in Hongkong and Kowloon held a meeting
in Hongkong at which they angrily condemned the British authorities there for their fascist atrocities in their bloody suppression of patriotic Chinese na- tionals.
All the representatives gave a pledge at the meeting that they would make a living study and application of Chair- man Mao's works in the course of strug- gle and win final victory in their fight against persecution. "We are willing to shed our blood and, even, to lose our lives for the defence of Mao Tse-lung's thought', they declared.
Yang Kuang, the Chairman of the meeting, took the floor first. He said that the British authorities in Hongkong had committed bloody atrocities and had deliberately extended them. This exposed the British imperialists' scheme to op- pose China and check the influence of Mao Tse-tung's thought, in collabora- tion with the US imperialists and the Chiang Kai-shek gang, he said. "The British authorities in Hongkong have tried to suppress through brutality the upsurge in the living study and appli- cation of Chairman Mao's works by our compatriots in Hongkong and Kow- But this is an empty dream,' he
loon. declared.
He said that with the 700 million peo- ple of the motherland supporting them and with Chairman Mao giving most powerful backing, the Chinese nationals in Hongkong and Kowloon would cer tainly win final victory in their just struggle.
A medical worker said that the Bri- tish authorities in Hongkong were more brutal than beasts. In their savage at- tacks, they singled out the spleen, the kidney, the liver, the stomach and other vital organs for their blows. Many vic tims, after their wounds had been treat- ed, had lingering aftereffects such aš headaches.
A worker had his skull pierced. His three layers of clothing were soaked with blood. One plastic flower worker suffered internal injuries so that even taking water was painful. A woman' worker had her brow bone fractured. Even twelves or thirteen year-old chil- dren were not spared. One schoolboy had his skull fractured and his leg forcefully twisted.
In fact of these vile brutes our com. patriots were not in the least cowed. They stated that they relied on the in- vincible thought of Mao Tse-tung to wage a tit-for-tat struggle against the
enemy.
Worker Hsiao Chien-hui had been seriously injured in the prison and his life was in danger. But he insisted on being carried to the meeting on а stretcher.
Lying on the stretcher, he spoke up, saying 'The enemy forbade me to read quotations from Chairman Mao. But I insisted on reading: "Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and surmount every diff- culty to win victory". The enemy beat me with a stick and finally I began to spit blood. But I spat the blood at the enemy and said to him, "Beat me until I die, but I will keep on reading Chair- man Mao's works!"'
Before he finished speaking, Hsiao Chien-hui fell unconscious. But as soon as he came to, be shouted with all the strength he could muster 'Long live Chairman Mao!' and 'Long live the Chi- nese communist party!'
As Hsiao Chien-hui was carried from room, all those taking part in the meet- ing roared out: 'We protest against illegal beating of our fellow country- men!' 'Blood must be paid for blood!' and 'Untite and struggle to the very end!'
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