21 NEGROES ARRESTED

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28162, 28 December 1956, Page 7

21 NEGROES ARRESTED

Race Trouble In Alabama (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) BIRMINGHAM (Alabama), December 27 Negroes in Birmingham mixed with white passengers for the first time in history yesterday, before the police arrested 21 negroes for violation of the city’s segregation laws. Negro leaders said that the arrests would lead to a Federal Court test of local segregation laws. Police in Montgomery said that a bus was hit by nine shots from a .22 calibre rifle and another damaged by shotgun fire. Noone was injured. The City Mission In Tallahassee. Florida, has decided to do without a bus service rather than run the risk of racial violence. Officials said that the buses were both in negro residential areas of Montgomery when they were fired upon. The driver of the bus which was hit by shotgun fire said there were four passengers aboard his bus. The driver of the other bus said he was alone after stopping at the end of the line. Negro leaders had announced earlier that they would make a full-scale move to break the city’s bus segregation barriers today. The negro leaders had planned to board Tallahassee buses and “sit where we please.” In Birmingham, negroes began sitting in sections of buses reserved for white persons after the home of the Rev. F. L. Shuttlesworth was bombed on Christmas day. Mr Shuttlesworth is leader of an anti-segregation group. He and several guests were slightly injured by the bombing. Last week, his group sent a letter to the Birmingham City Council saying that negroes would seat themselves on a “first come, first seated” basis unless the council repealed the racial laws. The council met, took no action, and adjourned within a few minutes.

Safety Devices For Cars

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, December 27. The British Road Research Laboratory today urged the adoption of safety belts or better car door locks as the greatest need to prevent injuries in road accidents. The laboratory said that in collisions a car’s doors usually flew open and one in three of the passengers was thrown out. frequently receiving fatal injuries. When passengers were kept inside a car they were liable to be injured by such internal fittings as the steering wheel, windscreen or mirror, making safety belts a necessity. Atomic Bomb Victims.— A further 18 Japanese girls, disfigured in the atom bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, will be given plastic surgery treatment in Hiroshima. It is estimated that the treatment to be given locally will cost nearly £s3oo—Tokyo, December 27.