1967 Hong Kong riots | |||
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Date | May – December 1967 | ||
Location | |||
Methods | Demonstrations, strikes, assassinations, planting of bombs | ||
Resulted in | Riots quelled
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Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
Casualties | |||
Death(s) | 51 | ||
Injuries | 832 | ||
Arrested | 4,979 | ||
Convicted | 1,936 |
1967 Hong Kong riots | |||||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 六七暴動 | ||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 六七暴动 | ||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | '67 riots | ||||||||||||||||
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The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale anti-government riots that occurred in Hong Kong during British colonial rule. Beginning as a minor labour dispute, the demonstrations eventually escalated into protests against the colonial government. The protests were partially inspired by successful anti-colonial demonstrations in Portuguese Macau which had occurred a few months prior.
The use of roadside bombs and petrol bombs by demonstrators prompted the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) to raid the demonstrators' strongholds and arrest their leaders. Fifty-one people were killed in the subsequent violence. As many of the bombs were made in pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) schools, then governor David Trench decided to close those schools and ban pro-CCP publications in the colony.
The protests occurred in the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution taking place in the People's Republic of China (mainland China), with many of the protesters harbouring leftist views and sympathies toward the CCP. After the riots, the British Hong Kong government publicly reflected on its failure to address certain social grievances and carried out major social reforms. However, another series of riots would occur in 1981.