combat but effective use was made of the local wireless transmissions to make known as quickly as possible what was really happening. On one occasion a threatened stoppage of work by employees of a transport company was averted by the continuous broadcast of the true facts of the situation, on which the men had been seriously misled. It was not possible to dispel all rumours, but whenever a rumour could be factually disproved it was dealt with promptly and quickly disposed of.
165. In the campaign of rumour-mongering, considerable use of loudspeakers mounted on communist owned buildings from which were broadcast threats and abuse against the authorities and encouragement to their supporters. The loudest and best known of these was at the Bank of China, the focal point for the disorders at the end of May. To meet this attack the Government set up its own loudspeakers on adjacent buildings whose combined output made the communist tirade unintelligible. The Government programme chosen consisted of selec- tions from Cantonese opera and the resulting din made the area of Statue Square almost uninhabitable for the three days that the contest lasted. In the end the communists gave in and their loudspeakers were not used again. Broadcasts continued intermittently from other build- ings, while communist river boats arriving in the Colony with goods from China, added their contribution while they were in port. These broadcasts tended to attract crowds and led on several occasions to clashes with the Police. There was a further addition to the communist propaganda armoury on 24th June when the Macau broadcasting sta- tion, Radio Villa Verde, passed completely into communist control and was used to direct more propaganda at Hong Kong.
166. The third medium of propaganda was posters. These appeared from the start of confrontation and continued sporadically throughout, reaching their height at the end of May and the beginning of June. Posters and slogans appeared everywhere, both ashore and afloat. They were pasted or written on every available wall, on ships in the harbour, and on the trains arriving at Lo Wu from China. Slogans were painted on the pavements and on the sides of cattle, while on one occasion a couple of unfortunate dogs were hung about with communist placards. These demonstrations had none of the sublety of the newspaper cam- paign, the message mostly consisting of simple, and crude slogans. But the cumulative effect of such objurgations as 'Blood for Blood', and 'Death to the Running Dogs' was considerable. They were reinforced
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