Sixty years ago in April 1966, thousands of Hongkongers protested over planned 5-cent increase to Star Ferry ticket prices
These articles were first published on April 8, 1966.
Quiet day explodes into violence
by SCMP reporter
After a quiet but tense day, Kowloon and New Kowloon last night were again in the grip of riotous mobs, who roamed the streets of Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei uncontrolled, stoning buses and cars, setting fires to vehicles and buildings and challenging police and troops.
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For seven hours, they ran wild until two hours after the reimposition of the curfew when an uneasy quiet again returned.
The first incident occurred at 7pm (April 7, 1966) when a crowd of 200 people began to gather in Soy Street, Mong Kok. Police moved in immediately and arrested two men. The crowd dispersed.
About 9pm, another crowd of about 150 gathered at the junction of Argyle Street and Nathan Road. Tear gas was used and police arrested eight people.
Then, about 10pm, another crowd of about 150 people gathered in Argyle Street – between the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building and the Gala Theatre.
Anti-riot squads arrived and police fired tear gas and arrested eight more people. They were young men, aged between 17 and 30.
Outside the ABC Restaurant, near the junction with Mong Kok Road, the police fired another 10 tear gas shots.
About 300 people gathered in Nathan Road, near the junction with Shantung Street. They yelled, threw boards and dustbins into the middle of the road.
This went on for half an hour.
A northbound bus was stopped near Argyle Street and stoned. The passengers got off the bus and dispersed.
More police reinforcement arrived, and the unruly crowd retreated into Portland Street where they started a fire.
At 10.40pm, a helicopter circled above the Mong Kok area. A car, driven by a Chinese woman, was surrounded in Nathan Road by more than 200 people. Stones and dustbins were thrown at the vehicle, smashing all its glass.
The helicopter swooped low, its searchlight beaming at the vehicle. The crowd dispersed and the woman ran into a side street and disappeared.
More people joined the mob and by 11pm, the crowd had grown to about 1,000. They roamed in the many streets that crisscross Mong Kok, starting several small fires.
They were stopping all buses and stoning them. Cars were overturned.
A group of 50 or 60 people broke into the Gala Theatre in Argyle Street while the final show was being screened.
An army unit immediately marched to the area and dispersed the rioters before any serious damage was done.
At 11.30pm a crowd of more than 500 moved up Nathan Road towards the old Mong Kok Police Station. Many of them were holding burning torches. They tried to set fire to the station building.
A riot squad rushed to the spot and drove the crowd away with tear gas grenades.
The group reassembled and went to Prince Edward Road and attempted to enter the new Mong Kok Police Station.
The police were ready for them and a barrage of tear gas missiles sent the rioters dashing helter-skelter into adjoining side streets.
By midnight, a virtual cordon had been laid around a rectangular area by Sai Yeung Choi and Portland Streets on the east and west.
More fires were started in this area. Shortly after midnight, a crowd set fire to a stationary bus in Nathan Road, near Public Square Street.
One of them took a piece of wood and placed it on the driver’s seat of a bus, starting a slow fire in the vehicle.
Minutes after midnight, it was announced that a curfew was to be imposed from 1.30am to 6am. However, the situation deteriorated and the curfew was advanced by one hour.
Police broadcast the curfew with loudhailers but the mob paid no attention.
At 12.15am, police opened fire on a crowd who were overturning cars in Dundas Street. Two men were wounded and taken to the hospital.
At about 12.25am, rioters in Shantung Street built a bonfire with furniture, cupboards, boxes and chairs that they had taken from nearby shops.
Other rioters were throwing stones at street lamps. Meanwhile, police and army troops moved into the Tsim Sha Tsui area. People, in small clusters, were cleared from the streets. Shops were closed and securely locked.
The two Shui Hing Co stores there were well guarded by security officers. The Mong Kok branch was completely wrecked yesterday morning (April 7, 1966).
An eyewitness in Tsim Sha Tsui said that after imposition of the curfew the streets were completely deserted except for troops armed with rifles. “The troops and police obviously meant business tonight,” he said.
The situation, however, was totally different in Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok. The rioters ignored the curfew and ran along the streets, throwing stones and shoes, and starting more fires.
Shortly before 1am, the Yau Ma Tei Post Office, at the junction of Waterloo Road and Shanghai Street, was set on fire. Police moved in and arrested six men.
At 1am, more than 100 policemen moved up to the junction of Nelson Street and Nathan Road, calling out the step in a loud voice as they marched. They spread out.
A group of policemen, with European officers, went into Nelson Street where more than 100 rioters were gathered around a bonfire, shouting.
The police called out over a megaphone to the people to disperse and go to their homes. When this was ignored, the police fired tear gas into the mob. The rioters retreated.
While the police were dispersing the mob, some of the rioters apparently hiding on the roof of the Liu Chong Hing Bank at the road junction, threw a bottle. It missed.
The windows of the bank were smashed, and there were reports that the rioters had tried to enter it.
Meanwhile, a detachment of Gurkhas was deployed in Nathan Road, moving northward in an attempt to clear the street. They finally reached Gascoigne Road which they patrolled.
The unrest was not confined to Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok. The police went to the roof of the ABC Restaurant in Prince Edward Road, following a report that people on the roof were throwing stones at passing cars.
Among the articles thrown down were a glass jar and a rattan chair.
When the police arrived, the people dispersed.
Three boys, aged 15, 16 and 17, all employed in the restaurant, were arrested.
At 2am today (April 8, 1966), the general situation was:
Tsim Sha Tsui and the area east of the railway were normal.
There was one incident in Sham Shui Po where a large hostile crowd gathered outside the Mong Kok Fire Station in Tong Mei Road. The police at the scene were joined by troops.
Although the streets in Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei appeared relatively quiet under the curfew there were still groups of rioters roaming both districts which were virtually cordoned off.
Half an hour later came the final report: “All quiet on the Kowloon front.”
First death reported
by SCMP reporter
At 3.30 this morning it was announced that one of the three men wounded during the night had died at Kwong Wah Hospital.
He was Cheng Yun-cheung, 28.
The police spokesman said at the same time that all was quiet throughout Kowloon.
There were no crowds to be seen in the area.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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