SINHALESE RIOT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22622, 27 April 1948, Page 5

SINHALESE RIOT

LABOUR CORPS AMOK TROOPS CURB DISORDERS SINGAPORE, April 25. All 800 men of the Sinhalese Royal Pioneer Corps, stationed at Kuala Lumpur, are confined to their camps today under an armed guard of Gurkhas following serious rioting in the town area on Saturday night. * Several Europeans were among those assaulted and three shops were wrecked by about 150 Sinhalese who rioted along Kuala Lumpur’s main roads. An official statement says that a court of inquiry is being convened immediately to inquire into the causes of the trouble. After a truckload of Sinhalese troops was stopped by the military police along the main road and escorted back to camp, serious trouble broke out. The men broke out of camp and proceeded to wreck a Chinese restaurant near the camp gate which was reduced to shambles in a few minutes. The rioters then lined the roads and began attacking passing cars, a European motorist with his wif- and child being among the first injured The rioters, using sticks, bottles and bricks, considerably damaged the cars. As this was going on, another not started in the shop area half a mile away. A liquor shop was smashed up money stolen and two Chinese employees stabbed. A general alarm was sent out and military and civilian police rushed to the scenes of the riots, arresting about 40 Sinhalese. British troops from nearby the Malaya district headquarters were called out and, as they neared the Sinhalese camp, the rioters began throwing bricks and bottles at them. The situation inside the camp was soon brought under control and armed Gurkhas , who came on the scene, threw a cordon around it. To-day everything is quiet.