Across the colony's northern border was a tumultuous People's Republic of China (PRC), with Red Guards carrying out purges and engaging in infighting amidst the Cultural Revolution.

In Hong Kong, the pro-Beijing newspapers Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po similarly voiced their support for the demonstrators and opposition to the colonial government.

[9] In Hong Kong's Central District, large loudspeakers broadcasting pro-CCP rhetoric and propaganda were placed on the roof of the Bank of China Building.

On 8 July, several hundred demonstrators from the PRC, including members of the People's Militia, crossed the border at Sha Tau Kok and attacked Hong Kong police officers stationed nearby.

[13] The People's Daily in Beijing ran editorials supporting the demonstrators' actions in Hong Kong; rumours that the PRC was preparing to take control of the colony began to circulate.

[19][20][21][22] The Hong Kong government imposed emergency regulations, granting the police special powers in an attempt to quell the unrest.

On 24 August, Lam Bun, a popular anti-communist radio commentator, was murdered by a death squad posing as road maintenance workers as he drove to work with his cousin.

[26] Other prominent figures of the media who had voiced opposition against the riots were also threatened, including Louis Cha, then chairman of the Ming Pao newspaper, who consequently left Hong Kong for almost a year before returning.

[27] It became known much later that, during the riots, the commander of the People's Liberation Army's Guangzhou Military Region Huang Yongsheng (one of Lin Biao's top allies) secretly suggested invading and occupying Hong Kong, but his plan was vetoed by Zhou Enlai.

[27] Confidence in the colony's future declined among some sections of Hong Kong's populace, and many wealthy residents sold their properties and migrated overseas, particularly to places such as Australia, Canada, and Singapore.

On 22 August, in Beijing, thousands of people demonstrated outside the office of the British chargé d'affaires, before Red Guards attacked, ransacked, and burned down the main building.

For instance, Tsang Tak-sing was a rioter who later co-founded the largest pro-Beijing political party in the city, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

[38] In 2001, Yeung Kwong was awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, a symbolic gesture that raised controversy as to whether the post-1997 Hong Kong government of the time was supportive of the riots.

[39] In 2017, hundreds of protesters who took part in the 1967 riots were hailed as heroes in a memorial ceremony at Wo Hop Shek public cemetery to mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising.

Prominent attendees included former finance sector lawmaker Ng Leung-sing, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Michael Luk Chung-hung, and head of the 67 Synergy Group Chan Shi-yuen.

For example, "Bombs were made in classrooms of leftist schools and planted indiscriminately on the streets" became "Bombs were planted indiscriminately on the streets"; the fragment "waving aloft the Little Red Book and shouting slogans" disappeared, and an entire sentence criticising the hypocrisy of wealthy pro-Beijing businessmen, the so-called "red fat cats", was deleted.

[41] The editing gave rise to criticisms that history was being rewritten to make it appear as though the British colonial government, rather than the demonstrators, were responsible for the start of the violence.