Hong Kong Report

Fighting between demonstrators and the police has recently increased in Hong Kong, according to a Chinese student who has just returned from the colony after a three week visit. United States servicemen have been confined to restricted areas; fewer tourists are to be seen on the streets, and nine emergency laws have been passed to help the police and penalise demonstrators, Truckloads of British troops now accompany police carrying out raids on premises suspected of being left-wing propaganda centres or communist hideouts, Within the last few weeks the motor workers' union headquarters, the Kowloon bus workers' union, the dockers' union offices and a number of schools have been raided, Most riots start in the most depressed areas of the city, in the Wong Tai Shin, Wan Chai or Monok areas, These are ghettoes taking the full impact of the Hong Kong unemployment rate of 20%, and the effects of only 50% of the colony's children receiving any kind of education, The police are afraid to enter these districts except in force; 'non-political' teenage elements resent the police and harrass patrols with bottle-throwing or stoning. Even when carrying out simple tasks like erasing political slogans from walls or tearing down provocative posters the police turn up in dozens, The Hong Kong left-wing press has published a pamphlet containing a number of what are called 'fascist atrocities' showing bleeding demonstrators being beaten by Hong Kong police, the various weapons being used to intimidate crowds and with a commentary attacking police brutality. This and a large number of synpathetic communist newspapers may be bought in the streets of Hong Kong, Curiously many of these papers appear to be published privately by wealthy individuals whose relationship to the Communist Party is not certain, My informant was among a crowd of onlookers when police were raiding a department store and experienced the effects of a tear gas grenade fired by the police to dispel the crowd. 'The gas irritated my eyes - I had the impression that the skin on my face was peeling off. The gas smelt like ammonia’, Doubtless much police violence occurs when police panic faced by hostile crowds. Such incidents are probably like the recent riots occurring in the United States, with complex social origins, However, many incidents such as the burning of buses and trams have been well organised reprisals against blacklegging; drivers strike against evil working conditions and the ill-treatment of other striking workers, It is important to remember that for the working-class, Hong Kong resembles 19th century Britain as far as working conditions and housing are concerned, Alongside the squalor of the worst areas exist elegant upper-class suburbs, The Communist Party leadership, attacked in undertones by Peking for being in the hands of the anti-Mao faction and sympa~ thetic to Liu Shao-chi, seems to be in the hands of professional people, businessmen and lawyers who have difficulty in appreciating the fundamental and appalling problems of the workers in really depressed districts, Bomb and grenade attacks on police stations near the Chinese border have been half-hearted and bungled so far. The nucleus of a genuine anti-imperialist workers' movement lies in the sweat-shops which horrify tourists who keep their eyes open,