Riots over Star Ferry fare increase kill 1 as 1,800 arrested – SCMP archive
st Battalion 2nd Gurkha Rifles on riot control duty in Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong during the Star Ferry Riots, April 1966.
A foretaste of the Cultural Revolution disturbances one year later.
These articles were first published on April 8, 1966. 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.
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.
British Army Gurkha soldiers on riot control duty at Nathan Road, Kowloon, during the Star Ferry Riots, in April 1966.
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
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