ately fired at as soon as they appeared at the windows of the post. By 11.30 a.m. two policemen had been killed at the post and there were a number of casualties both there and at the Rural Committee office.
105. Shortly before 1 p.m. the army was called upon for assistance and two companies of the 1/10 Gurkha Rifles, with armoured cars of the Life Guards in support, advanced towards the village which they reached at 3.30 p.m. As the army units approached, the attacking crowds fell back; although desultory firing continued, the Gurkhas did not open fire nor did they suffer any casualties. The Police were relieved and the post was taken over by the army. A curfew was imposed with effect from 4.30 p.m. and there were no further incidents. The total Police casualties were five dead and 11 injured.
106. These events attracted wide publicity in the world press and a number of alarmist reports were put out. It was an extremely serious affair but it was not a planned invasion of the Colony. Units of the local Chinese militia took part in the attack (though not in uniform) but no member of the regular Chinese army was involved. The avail- able evidence suggests that the attack was organized and executed by local villagers in the border area, that it was probably not even co- ordinated with the activities of the urban communists in Hong Kong and that it was certainly not planned or even approved by the authori- ties in Canton or Peking.
107. On the following day the Peking Government lodged a strong protest with the Chargé d'Affaires in Peking referring to 'serious armed provocation by the British' and alleging that the Chinese frontier guards had only fired in self-defence. A simultaneous protest was delivered by the Chargé d'Affaires. Neither was accepted.
108. After 8th July the border area remained unsettled, and the army took over from the Police the responsibility for patrolling the area. There were no further major attacks but there were a succession of provocative demonstrations and minor incidents. For a long period stones were thrown almost daily at army patrols in Lo Wu, Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok as well as at the immigration office at Lo Wu. Much of it was done by children; on 20th July a boy swam across the river at Man Kam To to stone the Police post, to the loud applause of the militia watching from the Chinese side.
109. A number of incidents arose from the display of posters in British territory. It is not an offence to display portraits of Chairman
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