GRAVE DANGER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 68, 22 March 1927, Page 7

GRAVE DANGER.

j CONFUSION INCREASES i Orgy Of Lawlessness and Bloodshed. AGITATORS WARNED, j ■ 11.30 a.m.' I SHANGHAI. March 21. J Contusion is increasing hourlv. and the situation is fraught with grave danger. One. thousand United States marines. 300 Japanese, and the troops of other nations have been landed to assist to protect the international settlement. There have been several incidents in the international and French, settlements accompanied by bloodshed. Civilians at Chapei have embarked on an orgy of looting, prefaced by the seizure of all the native police stations »Hth their stocks of arms and ammunition which have been used to kill the police, some of whom fled to the settlement begging entry. They were first disarmed but scores have been killed. Thousands of civilians are crowding the entrance to the gates, pleading for permission to enter. State of Emergency. The Kuomintang flag was hoisted over the post office and other Government buildings. A declaration ot a state of emergency was issued at noon. It warns against loitering in the streets and forbids assemblies and demonstrations without the council's written permission. It also advises residents to keep to their houses during the hours of darkness. The council declares its intention of continuing to co-operate with the Chin-

ese authorities and is directing all thi energies and resources towards maintain Lng order and ensuring the safety of lift and property within the area under it; control. It says the council will rigorously suppress all forms of violence and disorder and to this end will not hesitate to use the means at its disposal. Reds' Operation Plan. The Nationalist occupation of the native part of Shanghai, which may now be considered an accomplished fact" took the dual form of a militarv advance from Minhong by a few" thousand Nationalist troops and the effective internal action by Nationalist gunmen in mufti who. on a prearranged signal earlv in the morning, began a reign" of terror in the districts of Chapei and Nantao. They seized several native police stations by surprise attacks and set fire to one. The occupants of one station resisted and beat off the attackers, indicting several casualties. There was a certain amount of indiscriminate firing in the settlement itself. The British cigarette factors- at Pootung, on the other side of the river from shanghai, was entered by armed intimidators who forced out the emplovees at the revolver point. Sailors were landed to protect the factory. The international concession authorities are not yet in touch with the Nationalists. An. attempt to secure contact has so far been unsuccessful, resulting merely in the disappearance of two Chinese intelligence agents. Rumble of Fixing. The continuous rumble of firing, including machine-guns and a little lery, is clearly audible from the direction of the native city, where the absence of any kind of authority is encouraging disorderly elements to take advantage of the disturbed conditions. Bullets and some sHrapnel have fallen in the international concession. One Russian and several Chinese civilians were wounded. - -