The Chinese Communist Party’s cheerleaders in Hong Kong seek to justify the national security law for the city on grounds that it will restore peace and stability. Yet they totally ignore the lessons from history derived from the infinitely bloodier protests of 1967, where 51 people were killed and 832 injured.

Unlike the frenzied accusations of terrorism that abound today, Hong Kong’s 1967 riots were marked by real terrorism. There was bombing, bloodshed and enormous intimidation.

Moreover no one seriously questions that the riots were inspired by the Cultural Revolution on the Mainland and directed by the CCP which has never apologised for this orgy of violence; on the contrary there are calls for the participants to be hailed as heroes.

Foreshadowing recent events in Hong Kong, there were also accusations of police brutality and 4,979 arrests were made, a record far exceeded today. However the colonial authorities were sufficiently confident in the strength of the legal system to try suspects in open courts and let justice be seen to be done. Eventually 1,936 people were convicted.

It is hard to stress the extent to which the atmosphere of the late 1960s was tense. A great many people left Hong Kong. Even after the violence faded, fear and uncertainty prevailed.

The government crackdown on leftists that followed was undoubtedly harsh and there were clear cases of injustice meted out to innocent citizens. However, there was no such thing as special courts to try suspects, no notion of sending them to Britain for even harsher treatment and there was a determination to uphold the rule of law, without resorting to new laws that would outlaw most forms of protest.

The colonial record cannot, however, be whitewashed. In the 1960s, Hong Kong lacked any form of democratic government. A small elite that sucked up to the rulers for their own benefit had considerable influence and many of the people sent from Britain to occupy important positions in government were second rate at best.

The events of 1967, and indeed the turbulent lessons of the previous year’s protests ignited by a raise in Star Ferry fares, forced the authorities to think very carefully about their method of government and contemplate ways of getting the colony back on track.

The benign neglect of social services, education provision and housing for the poor were rapidly identified as priorities to be tackled. Government officials were finally forced to stand up to the influence of the wealthy who disliked paying taxes and seriously believed that the role of the majority of the people was little more than to supply a source of cheap labor.

It also became evident that it was no longer viable to solely rely on communication with the elite to determine policy. Engagement in the localities was stepped up, giving district officers a major role in giving the wider community a voice.

In some senses, therefore, the 1967 uprising can be seen as having played a major role in forcing change on a complacent colonial government.

Compare and contrast what happened some 50 years ago with the response to the protests coming from the CCP and sheepishly echoed by the non-entities who are supposed to be running the Hong Kong government.

The party, like all dictators, only really has one reflex response to protest which is to stamp it out, often with great brutality. This is why Beijing’s focuses on the police, the prisons and the heavy hand of the state.

Dialogue with the opposition is non-existent in the Hong Kong of 2020. Instead the people’s views are collected by herding together the most loyal of the loyal at secret meetings where they solemnly declare support for whatever they are asked to support. In recent days they have been busy supporting the national security law without even knowing what it contains.

Whereas in 1967 the government took great pains to see that justice was done in – often harshly – punishing opponents, today there are plans to conduct trials in Mainland style where there is never a question of the verdict and where even defense lawyers risk going to jail for daring to do their jobs.

In 1967, the hand of a remote guiding force controlling the riots was clearly seen. Today, despite endlessly repeated allegations of foreign control, not one scrap of real evidence has been produced to substantiate these claims.

Precisely because the old colonial regime was smart enough to realise that mere repression was never going to settle what were essentially political and social problems, society was able not just to get back to normal but to prosper.

The current regime only believes in repression. It has nothing else to offer. What can possibly be the outcome of this mindset?

(Stephen Vines is a Hong Kong-based journalist, writer and broadcaster and runs companies in the food sector. He was the founding editor of 'Eastern Express' and founding publisher of 'Spike'. In London he was an editor at The Observer and in Asia has worked for international publications including, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, BBC, Asia Times and The Independent and, during Hong Kong’s 2019/20 protests, for the Sunday Times. Vines is the author of several books, including: Hong Kong: China’s New Colony, The Years of Living Dangerously - Asia from Crisis to the New Millennium and Market Panic and most recently, Food Gurus. He hosts a weekly television current affairs programme: The Pulse")

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