TRAGEDY OF DAMASCUS

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 258, 31 October 1925, Page 9

TRAGEDY OF DAMASCUS

. BARBAROUS PROCEEDINGS. FRENCH PARADE OF CORPSES. TERRIBLE RACIAL HATE. CORRESPONDENTS ACCOUNT. (By Cable.—rress Association.—Copyright. - ) (Received 1 p.m.) LONDON, October 30. • The Jerusalem correspondent of the lr Morning Post" supplies the following reliable account from a British source of fie J)amascus insurrection. Troops on October 12 entered the street called ''The Straight" with fourteen camels, each, bearing the corpse of a Syrian. ' These were dumped in Merdje Square for public exhibition, all the 'dead being Damascenes. AN ENRAGED PEOPLE. This enraged the populace, and a strong Druse attack on October 18 was assisted by the insurrection of the city people, the Druse bands erecting barricades in the Moslem quarter, and burning shops and bouses. N French artillery replied with a bombardment, day and night for several days, while aeroplanes assisted. , The British Embassy was damaged by chell fire. The populace were terrorstricken by showers of bombs and ehells. The city is still smouldering. The Christian and Jewish quarters were entirely at the mercy of the Moslem population. Houses were damaged and many people killed. French soldiers shot some Syrian?, in cold blood. In one case six Moslems were jplaced against a wall and shot before a crowd of women and children. The*'casualties "were greatest among tbe Syrians and include 'Several hundred of ■French,.— (Reuter—A and NZ.— "Sun?'.) ARREST OF A CHIEF. . A telegram from Cairo says the Egyptian .newspaper, "Omran," publishes a Report from Damascus to the effect that the authorities have arrested tbe chief, Hassan el Karrath, who led the band of brigands concerned in tbe recent insurrection. Forty-three other insurgents have also been arrested, and 160 Damascenes and suburban residents have been charged with connivance. ' The paper adds that three people have been executed. " Advices received in Paris from Beirut state that the French operations against the Druse rebels continue. The whole of Syria is now calm and the people of Damascus are returning to their homes. -General Dupont, a member of the r Supreme War Coi\ncil, who was sent to ;Syria on a special mission of inquiry into- the recent events, has arrived at Beirut. FRENCH LOCUST CLOUD. It is officially denied, both in London and.in Paris, that the British Government has made representations'to France .as regards the incidents in Damascus, jjt.is stated'in London, however,' that the British' Consul submitted a list of claims "JEqr damage to British propertyl ..The French declare that the lives and property of the people in the foreign polonies did not suffer. The Paris newspapers demand the recall of General Sarrail from Syria. They say he passed over Syria like a locust cloud and made the population regret the end of Turkish domination. General Gamelin's column, which was isurrounded in the Syrian desert, by the Druses, has arrived at Damascus. Its losses totalled 3000 killed. This makes the total French dead since August 6000. .. (A. and N.Z., Reuter, and "Sun.") U.S.A. PROPERTY. CLAIMS AGAINST FRANCE. WASHINGTON, October 30. The failure of the French authorities at Damascus to warn American residents nrior to the punitive bombardment of sections of the city has prompted the United States Government to make representations through the American Ambassador, to the French Foreign Office. No American casualties are reported, but suitable claims will be filed for tbe property damaged when the necessary data has been made available. — (A. and N.Z. Cable.)