Account of the riot from eye-witness:
12 year old student Han Tan Juan (adapted from "Singapore:A biography"):
The workers participating in the strikes assembled at the gate of the Hock Lee Bus Company.The police wanted them to disperse but they refused. The police then started using high-powered water cannons on the workers.These were very high-pressure water-cannons,strong enough to send pebbles and glass on the ground flying towards the workers. Some of the workers' bodies and faces were cut and bled from the flying stones and glass. Whenever the water cannons lulled, the sympathisers would rush to pick up pebbles and glass from the ground . They weren't trying to attack the police you only have to look at the actions of the people in the photographs and you'll see..... The water-cannons were so powerful that they could blast a person into a drain. The crowd became very angry, and someone shouted in Hokkien 'hood!' which means "fight".
People invovled:
Mr David Marshall(Cheif Minister)
Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan(both are leaders of SBWU)
Mr Lee Kuan Yew(Legal representative for Lim and Fong)
Students from various Chinese schools
Bus companies island-wide
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