DEMONSTRATIONS

Grey River Argus, 13 February 1940, Page 8

DEMONSTRATIONS

FEELING IN IRELAND

AGAINST I.R.A. EXECUTIONS IN ENGLAND. BELFAST, February 11. The police, by baton-charging lor two hours, suppressed I.R.A. demonstrations of sympathy in connection with the Birmingham executions. The crowd fled, but re-assembled. Men and women threw bottles, brickbats and pavingstones. A youth hurled a huge rock into a car full of people. An inspector threatened to fire a revolver. Several people were arrested. A party of I.R.A. supporters with a car, raided»Kallykinlar camp, overpowered a sentry and seized 300 rifles. The police raided a club at Armagh and prevented the reading of sympathetic resolutions from a window. Some church-goers wore crepe armlets. Revolver shots, fired in Cork Barracks, wounded two Eirean Army sergeants, one critically. A private was arrested. RICHARD’S LAST LETTER. (Received February 12, 11.40 p.m.) BELFAST, February 12. A meeting at Mullingar in Northern Ireland, heard the last letter sent from Richards (one of the I.R.A. men eecxuted in Birmingham) to his sister. He said: “I have just been told that I am to die in the morning. 1 shall walk out smiling, thinking of God, and of the good cause and the good men who have gone before, fighting for the same cause.”

Armoured cars have been patrolling Belfast all night after the street fighting yesterday when there was a demonstration against the executions. In this thousands of -the demonstrators clashed with over one hundred police. Thirteen were arrested. Other police and also soldiers are scouring the country, and are combing out hide-outs in County Down. They are making efforts to discover the arms that were stolen from Ballykinlar, which is just north of Dundrum Bay. The Ballykinlar raiders sent in a “scouting party” of four men, who overpowered iand gagged the sentry. A car then < drove up, while the raiders broken into the armoury. A rifleman, named O’Neill aged 19, surprised them, but he was also .gagged and was bundled into the car and taken to secret headquarters in Belfast. He was, however, released after nine hours.

It is now stated that the Bailykinlar raiders stole Bren guns and one hundred rifles.

In Tipperary, a speaker declared: It .is the British Government against c V oun?r7” fight ' They partitioned our