and in the vicinity of Pottinger Street. A second crowd moved away to the Star Ferry while the remainder were shepherded eastward by the Police burning the flag at the Fire Services Headquarters in Harcourt Road on the way. By about 6 p.m. the position in the central area was calm and there were no further incidents.
42. In the midst of these disturbances some communist delegations, including a group of about a hundred school children, passed through to Government House in the small parties permitted by the Police. There were to be further, more or less orderly, delegations in the days that followed but the communists were now plainly seeking a major clash with the Police in order to manufacture a propaganda ‘incident'.
43. On the morning of 22nd May crowds again began to gather at Garden Road and at 10 a.m. the Police were faced by about 100 com- munists including students of both sexes. A passer-by who rashly aired his opinion of Chairman Mao was set upon and assaulted. He was rescued by a member of the public, who was later awarded the Belilios Star for his bravery.
44. The demonstrators again demanded to be allowed past the cordon and again shouted abuse and threats when this was refused. To provoke the Police further they made threatening gestures, thrusting their fingers at the eyes of the constables in the leading files opposite them and kicking at their ankles. When this failed to produce the action they wanted, one of them kicked a constable in the groin. The man responsible was arrested; a general melee ensued and the Police used their batons. At once the demonstrators fell to the ground en masse in simulated agony, whether they were hit or not. They produced bandages from their pockets, some already provided with artificial 'bloodstains', and they daubed themselves with the blood of those who had really been injured.
45. The communists had achieved their incident, which was given wide publicity in their newspapers. Its effect however was limited by the fact that the scene was fully covered by non-communist reporters as well as by photographers and television cameramen, while an interested crowd was also watching from the windows of the Hilton Hotel. While the supporters of confrontation might have been con- vinced by the pictures of this play-acting published in the communist press, the true facts of the incident were too well publicized for anyone else to be taken in. The incident tended to prove not the 'brutality' of the Police but their very considerable restraint.
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