Gas Bomb Attack Made In House Of Commons

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32358, 25 July 1970, Page 13

Gas Bomb Attack Made In House Of Commons

(N Z.P A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, July 24. A major security row loomed in London today after a gas bomb attack on members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Members were listening to a report from Mr ; Anthony Barber, Min- > ister in Charge of Com- i mon Market negotia- ( tions yesterday after- ■ noon when a man stood i up in the strangers’ 1 gallery and tossed two ] canisters on to the floor ( of the chamber. He was 1 heard to shout: “Belfast —see how you like it.” ]

Members threw themselves flat or rushed for the doors as the bombs belched clouds of gas, similar to that used by troops in Vietnam and by police and troops against rioters in Northern Ireland.

The Speaker had to be helped out and Mr Tom Swain, Labour member for Derbyshire North-east, attempted to extinguish one bomb, only to be overcome by the fumes. Two members were taken to hospital.

Attendants grabbed the man in the gallery and took him outside to waiting police, who have no authority within the House. The Northern Irish militant Protestant leader, the Rev. lan Paisley, who was in a nearby corridor at the time of the bomb-throwing incident, commented: “It seemed to be a particularly strong concentration of CS gas—l have had it before.” Another member from the troubled British province, Mr Gerry Fitt (Republican Labour), said that thousands of CS gas cannisters had been thrown in Northern Ireland in the last few months. “Children of three and four years old and people of 90 who were not involved in the rioting have had to suffer the effects. This has brought home to people what it is like,” Mr Fitt said. The House resumed business two hours later. Later, James Anthony

Roche, aged 26, a labourer of no fixed address, was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon under Section 5 of the Firearms Act, 1968. He will appear at Bow Street Court today. CS gas, developed for its short-term effects, makes the

’ eyes water and burns the I chest and throat passages. There were protests in the s Commons about its use in Northern Ireland during riot- ’ ing there last year, but an official inquiry found that it i had produced no serious ill- > ness among healthy people.