The 1967 riots were instigated by Maoists in an attempt to topple British rule. It had nothing to do with "local people". Recall that it happened during the Cultural Revolution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_1967_leftist_riots

Maoists are not local, and liberal democrats are, (supposedly).

I wonder what kind of formal logic is this.

If it wants the people to be friendly, it should probably start pumping a lot more money into jobs programs, addressing income inequality, and building a helluva lot of housing.

Happy people don't protest as frequently. People who feel they have dim future prospects do.

(Simply from a realpolitik perspective)

That's what Tung Chee-Hwa tried to do as the first beijing friendly chief executive. Beijing can't decide what the legco votes for (since the functional constituency is by definition allocated to the local oligarchy who prefer to keep the status quo of focusing on wealth management, private banking than building productive, middle-class-geared economies).

I agree and I find it kind of ironic that those so-called communists turned out to be more nationalist than the nationalists who are now the liberals of Taiwan.

Based on what evidence did you come up with 70 years?