BELFAST DISORDERS

Evening Star, Issue 22084, 18 July 1935, Page 9

BELFAST DISORDERS

OPPOSING FACTIONS CLASH FUNERAL PRECIPITATES FRESH TROUBLE Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright BELFAST, July 17. (Received July 18, at 1 p.m.) Despite ample military and police precautions, trouble broke out during the funeral of Thomas M'Dowell, a week-end victim, which was attended by thousands. Shots from a side street threw the. crowd into confusion, and the Loyalists attacked the Nationalists, who promptly retaliated. The procession, despite police efforts, became a series of melees all the way to the cemetery, culminating in a fight with stones, compelling constables 'to fire over the heads - of the crowd until the riot was quelled. This enabled the minister to complete the burial service.

Further disturbances marked the return journey, in which thousands of youths, headed by a leader with a wounded arm, maintained rough military formation until shots were fired, transforming them into a rabble which was eventually dispersed. DEATH. ROLL OF SIX . BELFAST, July 17. (Received July 18, at 1.30 p.m.) The death roll reached six. A man succumbed in the street with a bullet wound in the head. The fire brigade suppressed further outbreaks of incendiarism. The troops were reinforced by fresh contingents, who were compelled to fire machine guns over the heads of the crowds to quell the disturbances.