33 Killed And 300 Injured

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24801, 15 February 1946, Page 5

33 Killed And 300 Injured

TELEPHONE SERVICE DISLOCATED

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. l a.m.) CALCUTTA, February 14. Casualties in the Calcutta rioting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday total 33 dead and nearly 300 injured.

Police and troops were forced to open fire 12 times on Wednesday. Only white troops were called out to check the disturbances. No Indian troops were being used. A mob last night set fire to a Methodist church in Dharmafilla street, one of Calcutta’s busiest and most congested areas.

The city’s telephone system is dislocated as a result of the disturbances. Only 50 of the 500 British and Indian girl operators arrived for work yesterday. The remainder were unable to get to work.

Mill workers who demonstrated at Kankinara, 22 miles from Calcutta, burned down the railway station and three trains which were held up on the track. The passengers were forced to get out of the trains, after which the carriages were set on fire.

Nineteen American soldiers were injured last night when a mob attacked a convoy of 75 lorries carrying troops to Calcutta. Liquor stocks were looted and furniture set on fire by a gang which raided a Calcutta night club.

So far to-day no disturbances have been reported.

The Exchange Telegraph Agency’s Correspondent says-the police have already arrested 200 persons, some of whom were hooligans pretending to be students. Nineteen students are at present hunger-striking as a protest against the police and the military being used. Meanwhile the atmosphere is tense. Troops with Lewis guns are stationed at crossroads and other key positions. Four persons were killed and 14 injured when the police fired on workers who blocked the passage of a train at Kankinara. The Moslem League’s Calcutta newspaper. called “Morning News,” has printed accounts of the disturbances on its front page under the heading, “Murder, Murder, Nothing but Murder.” The newspaper says: “Murder is now the order of the day under the accursed rule of the Government of India and its representative in Calcutta, Richard Casey.” The Congress Party and the Moslem League combined in the Indian Legislative Assembly at New Delhi to pass a vote of censure on the Government because the New Delhi police on Tuesday handcuffed and chained 37 Moslem League and Communist Party members.