RIOTOUS CROWDS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20859, 11 August 1942, Page 4

RIOTOUS CROWDS

INDIAN CITIES 11 KILLEDTI69 HURT HINDU-MOSLEM CLASHES fßv Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. 1 l. (2 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 10. Rioting continues in Bombay, New 2 Delhi, jPoona and other Indian cities. 1 The police are using revolvers, smoke- -- bombs, tear-gas, and lathis, to disperse l the crowds. f An official communique issued In Bombay says that' yesterday’s riots : resulted in 11 persons being killed and i IG9 injured, including 91 police in1, jured. | Twenty-seven members of the i. public i were injured in to-day's dis- : turbances, but the number of dead and ; the police casualties are not available. | The : communique adds that 'the 1 police frustrated attempts to set-fire ; to gag-works and also the Central" India railway station. Three police : stations were set on fire, two of which ' were gutted. ' A pijess report states that police in the Dadar area of Bombay this morn--1 ing were forced to fire on a large and violent crowd which refused to dis- ; perse. In this and later firing, 11 persons were wounded. Demonstrators burned a Government grain shop ’ in the Kalbadevi area. The stoning of suburban trains is reported in Dadar. The 'interruption of work has now spread to 18 mills. The situation became worse this afternoon in northern Bombay, where more trains; were jstoned, telegraph wires cut, street lamps smashed, and a post office attacked. . All north Bombay has been placed Under a curfew.Barbed Wire Entanglements At New Delhi the police used barbed wire to ‘prevent mobs from proceeding to the Imperial Secretariat. This measure was only partially successful, and the-police had eventually to wield their lathis., to indupe the crowds to disperse... ; >. The Associated Press correspondent in New Delhi' reports that shops; mills, and schools in New Delhi have been closing all day,-but vital services are' not interrupted and food- shops are open. The situation appears to be under control. A large force of Indian and British troops paraded through the old part of the' city. The I demonstrators were in an uglier mood than yesterday.and forced the closure of the few shops remaining open, but did not clash v/ith the police. The 'markets in Karachi are' closed and the students are not; attending colleges. Work in some jute mills in Calcutta has been interrupted and a number of shops closed/ At Poona, the police, after fruitless baton charges, fired on a crowd, mostly students, who were trying to demonstrate near Parasurambhau College. - Poona’s schools and colleges are closed. The police in Lucknow-fired on a crowd of university students who, after organising a strike, attempted to form a procession, despite the police ban. The police first charged the crowd with lathis. . The students, begat) stoning, whereupon the police fired a volley and arrested five men and eight women’ students. Police and soldiers are now guarding .the university. Moslem Shops Stoned The (Associated Press Bombay correspondent reports that bands of Hindus this morning threw stones against Moslem shops in the trouble areas. However, the police, apart from this single demonstration, . reported no other communal activities. The correspondent says that the! police expect the rioting to die down within a couple of days unless' the Hindus and Moslems clash, in which case bloodshed is likely .to continue alii the summer.; Mr. Savakar, president of the Hindu Mahasabha, the orthodox Hindu organisation, called on all Hindus not to extend active support to the Congress mass civil disobedient resolution and-also not .to take up a hostile attitude to the Congress action pending a decision by the meeting of the Mahasabha working committee on August 29; He warned the Government that the only effective way to appease Indian discontent was an unequivocal declaration by Parliament granting India a status of completely free and equal •partnership in an Indo-British commonwealth. “This should immediately be implemented by investing India \yith actual political power,” he added. • • - - ......