Mao Tse Tung or extracts from his teachings, and farmers and others crossing into British Territory have taken full advantage of this im- munity. It is an offence to display inflammatory posters but, as in the urban areas, their removal was most strongly resented by the com- munists. It was through this cause that a tense situation developed on 5th August when a group of coolies surrounded the police post at Man Kam To and demanded that any posters put up should be allowed to remain. The District Officer was called in to negotiate and after a dis- cussion lasting for almost an hour the matter was settled. A Chinese military contingent armed with rifles and a machine gun and a Gurkha platoon supported by armoured cars faced each other across the frontier during the incident. Barbed wire defences were erected to protect the police post, which was right beside the bridge crossing into China.
110. Trouble flared up again on 10th August, and armed troops were again deployed on either side of the border at Man Kam To. On this occasion one of the coolies deliberately staged an 'accident' by colliding with the new barbed wire barricades and feigning injury. He was carried off with a great show of concern and the occasion was used to complain again about the removal of posters as well as to demand an admission of guilt for the accident. The District Officer was once more called in to negotiate and the discussions continued until well after nightfall. Under cover of darkness, a large group of coolies forced their way past the wire barriers, entered the police post and surrounded and threatened its occupants, including the District Officer, the Commanding Officer of the Gurkha Battalion, some police officers and some Gurkha soldiers; the latter were disarmed and their weapons taken across into China. Other soldiers, outside the encircling ring of C.T. coolies, were prevented from opening fire because of the danger to their own men held in the police posts and, particularly, the Europeans whose lives were being threatened. Chinese border troops showed signs of intervening in support of the coolies. In the end, to resolve a difficult situation, the District Officer agreed to sign a paper, under duress, accepting the demands about posters and admitting re- sponsibility for the 'accident' to the coolie. The party in the police post was freed and the arms returned from C.T.
111. After this incident the border gate at the Man Kam To was closed by the British authorities for some days and the Police post, which was shown to be dangerously exposed, was demolished and re-sited further back in British Territory.
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