1967 Hong Kong riots

The initial demonstrations were labour disputes that began as early as May 1967 in shipping, taxi, textile, and cement companies. The unions that took up the cause were all members of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions, a labour group with strong ties to Beijing.[1]

The political climate was tense in Hong Kong in the spring of 1967. Across the colony's northern border was a tumultuous People's Republic of China (PRC), with Red Guards carrying out purges and engaging in infighting amidst the Cultural Revolution. To the west of Hong Kong, in the Portuguese colony of Macau, two months of violent clashes between colonial police and pro-CCP demonstrators had just ended. Order was not restored to Macau despite the intervention of the Portuguese army, and a general strike in January 1967 pressured the Portuguese government into agreeing to many of the demonstrators' demands, placing the colony under the de facto control of the PRC.[2] Up to 31 protests were held in Hong Kong.[3]

A KMB double decker set ablaze by rioters on 12 May 1967

Bystanders look on as police officers prepare to confront rioters on 21 May 1967. The rioters are out of the picture, below the balcony and to the right of where the photographer is standing.

In May, a labour dispute began in Hong Kong Artificial Flower Works, a factory producing artificial flowers in San Po Kong.[4] Of the 679 workers in the factory, only 174 were unionised and willing to strike.[5] Picketing workers clashed with management, and riot police were called in on 6 May. In violent clashes between the police and the picketing workers, 21 workers were arrested. Representatives from the union protested at police stations but were themselves arrested.

The next day, large-scale demonstrations erupted on the streets of Hong Kong. Many pro-CCP demonstrators carried Mao Zedong's Little Red Book in their left hands and shouted communist slogans. The Hong Kong Police Force engaged with the demonstrators and arrested another 127 people.[6] A curfew was imposed and all police personnel were called into duty.[7]

In the PRC, newspapers praised the demonstrators' activities and condemned the colonial government's actions as "fascist atrocities". In Hong Kong, the pro-Beijing newspapers Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po similarly voiced their support for the demonstrators and opposition to the colonial government.[8]

In Hong Kong's Central District, large loudspeakers broadcasting pro-CCP rhetoric and propaganda were placed on the roof of the Bank of China Building. Colonial authorities responded by blaring out Cantonese opera from larger speakers placed nearby.[7] Posters were put up on walls with slogans like "Blood for Blood", "Stew the White-Skinned Pig", "Fry The Yellow Running Dogs", "Down With British Imperialism" and "Hang David Trench".[9] Students distributed newspapers carrying information about the demonstrations and pro-CCP rhetoric to the public.

Meeting of the Anti-British Struggle Committee

On 16 May, demonstrators formed the "Committee of Hong Kong and Kowloon Compatriots from All Circles for Struggle Against British Hong Kong Persecution" or "Anti-British Struggle Committee" for short.[10] Yeung Kwong of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Federation of Trade Unions was appointed its chairman. The committee organised and coordinated a series of large demonstrations. Hundreds of supporters from 17 different leftist organisations demonstrated outside Government House, chanting pro-CCP slogans.[11] At the same time, many workers went on strike, with Hong Kong's transport services being disrupted particularly badly.

More violence erupted on 22 May, with another 167 people being arrested. The rioters began to adopt more sophisticated tactics, such as throwing stones at police officers or police vehicles passing by, before retreating into leftist "strongholds" such as newspaper offices, banks or department stores once the police responded. Casualties began soon after. At least eight protester deaths were recorded before 1 July; most of the victims were shot or beaten to death by the police.

In the afternoon of the Sha Tau Kok incident, police officers stood guard at the cordon outpost. A military helicopter arrived at the scene to conduct low-altitude reconnaissance.

A British Army bomb disposal expert attempts to disarm an improvised explosive device.

On 8 July, several hundred demonstrators from the PRC, including members of the People's Militia, crossed the border at Sha Tau Kok and attacked Hong Kong police officers stationed nearby. The police attempted to disperse the crowd using tear gas and wooden bullets, prompting armed members of the crowd to open fire on the police. Five police officers were killed and eleven injured in a brief exchange of fire.[12] The People's Daily in Beijing ran editorials supporting the demonstrators' actions in Hong Kong; rumours that the PRC was preparing to take control of the colony began to circulate. The pro-CCP protesters in Hong Kong tried in vain to organise a general strike in the colony. Attempts to persuade the ethnic Chinese serving in the police to join their ranks were equally unsuccessful.

Unable to progress by peaceful means, the demonstrators resorted to more extreme measures, planting bombs, as well as decoys, throughout the city.[13] Normal life was severely disrupted and casualties began to rise. An eight-year-old girl, Wong Yee-man, and her two-year-old brother, Wong Siu-fan, were killed by a bomb wrapped like a gift placed outside their residence.[14] Bomb disposal experts from the police and the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong defused as many as 8,000 home-made bombs, of which 1,100 were found to be real.[15][16] Locals nicknamed these bombs "pineapples".[17] Most police stations across Hong Kong were fortified with sandbags as police facilities were the target of numerous attacks using bombs, homemade fragmentation explosives, and various projectiles.[18][19][20][21]

The Hong Kong government imposed emergency regulations, granting the police special powers in an attempt to quell the unrest. Leftist newspapers were banned from publishing; leftist schools alleged to be bomb-making factories, such as Chung Wah Middle School, were shut down; many pro-CCP leaders were arrested and detained; and some of them were later deported to mainland China.[15]

On 19 July, demonstrators set up barbed wire defences on the Bank of China Building.[22]

In response, police raided leftist strongholds, including Kiu Kwan Mansion.[17] In one of the raids, helicopters from HMS Hermes – a Royal Navy aircraft carrier – landed police on the roof of the building.[23] Upon entering the building, the police discovered bombs and weapons, as well as a leftist "hospital" complete with dispensary and an operating theatre.[24]

The public outcry against the violence was widely reported in the media, and the demonstrators again switched tactics. On 24 August, Lam Bun, a popular anti-communist radio commentator, was murdered by a death squad posing as road maintenance workers as he drove to work with his cousin. Lam's assailants prevented him from getting out of his car, and he was burned alive.[25] Other prominent figures of the media who had voiced opposition against the riots were also threatened, including Louis Cha, then chairman of the Ming Pao newspaper, who consequently left Hong Kong for almost a year before returning.

The waves of bombings did not subside until October 1967. In December, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai ordered the leftist groups in Hong Kong to stop all bombings, and the riots in Hong Kong finally came to an end after 18 months.[26] It became known much later that, during the riots, the commander of the People's Liberation Army's Guangzhou Military Region Huang Yongsheng (one of Lin Biao's top allies) secretly suggested invading and occupying Hong Kong, but his plan was vetoed by Zhou Enlai.[27]

The Hong Kong Police Force was applauded for its behaviour during the riots by the British Government. In 1969, Queen Elizabeth granted the force the privilege of the "Royal" title. This remained in use until the end of British rule in 1997.[36]

A number of participants in the 1967 riots have since gained a foothold in Hong Kong politics. For instance, Tsang Tak-sing was a rioter who later co-founded the largest pro-Beijing political party in the city, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Along with his brother Tsang Yok-sing, they continued to promote Marxism in Hong Kong.[37] In 2001, Yeung Kwong was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, a symbolic gesture that raised controversy as to whether the post-1997 Hong Kong government of the time was supportive of the riots.[38]

In 2017, hundreds of protesters who took part in the 1967 riots were hailed as heroes in a memorial ceremony at Wo Hop Shek public cemetery to mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising. Prominent attendees included former finance sector lawmaker Ng Leung-sing, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Michael Luk Chung-hung, and head of the 67 Synergy Group Chan Shi-yuen. They called for Beijing to vindicate the protests, which they have continued to refer to as a "patriotic act against British colonial tyranny".[39]

In mid-September 2015, media reported that the Hong Kong Police Force had made material deletions from its website concerning "police history", in particular, the political cause and the identity of the groups responsible for the 1967 riots, with mention of communists being expunged.

For example, "Bombs were made in classrooms of leftist schools and planted indiscriminately on the streets" became "Bombs were planted indiscriminately on the streets"; the fragment "waving aloft the Little Red Book and shouting slogans" disappeared, and an entire sentence criticising the hypocrisy of wealthy pro-Beijing businessmen, the so-called "red fat cats" was deleted.[40]

The editing gave rise to criticisms that history was being rewritten to make it appear as though the British colonial government, rather than the demonstrators, were responsible for the start of the violence. Stephen Lo, the new Commissioner of Police, said the content change of the official website was to simplify it for easier reading; Lo denied that there were any political motives, but his denials left critics unconvinced.[41] The changes were subsequently reversed.

• In John Woo's action film Bullet in the Head, the 1967 riots are briefly shown.
• In Tsui Hark's film Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, images of the 1967 riots are shown.
• In the stage play and film I Have a Date with Spring, the riots (although only briefly referenced) are a key plot point.
• Wong Kar Wai's film 2046 features the riots in the background and uses a few old newsreels of the riots.
• The film about modern Hong Kong history Mr. Cinema depicts the riots.

• 1960s in Hong Kong
• Scientia Secondary School
• Pui Kiu Middle School
• Fukien Secondary School
• Chung Ying Street
• 1966 Hong Kong riots
• Spring Garden Lane
• 1971 JVP Insurrection, in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka)
• 1981 Hong Kong riots
• 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, in mainland China

• Ho, Ka-ki, Lawrence (2009), Policing the 1967 riots in Hong Kong : Strategies, rationales and implications (PDF), doi:10.5353/th_b4419393, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2019{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) – PhD thesis of the University of Hong Kong
• Whitehead, Kate (22 April 2017). "1967 riots in Hong Kong, by some of those caught up in the violence". South China Morning Post.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hong Kong 1967 riots.

• Remaking Hong Kong, the 1967 People's Revolution
• The Sha Tau Kok Incident 1967