CORK RIOT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4605, 4 October 1934, Page 3

CORK RIOT

THE IRISH FARMERS. BATTLE WITH POLICE. A BLUE SHIRT FUNERAL. London, August 17. For some time past, many of the 30,000 farmers in Cork County have been refusing to pay the land annuities on the ground that they were already paying* them in the form of export duty levied by England. The Government's reply has been to seize and sell the cattle of defaulting farmers. It was in protest of such a sale that the serious rioting in Cork occurred this week. The cattle to be sold belonged to Mr. W. Desmond and Mr. Eamonn O'Neill, who represent Cork Borough and Kest Cork respectively in the Dail. Both are members of the United Ireland Party. The cattle had been brought to the Copley Street repository, strongly guarded day and night by police.

Farmers from all over the county had made secret plans to be present, writes the Daily Telegraph's correspondent. At least 5000 arrived and gathered in the great square outside the saleyards. A large body of Civic Guards, reinforced by plain clothes men from the special armed branch formed by the Government about a year ago, when Mr. de Valera forced a coup d'etat, took up position in and around the saleyard. As the sale was due to begin, a lorry arrived, filled with farmers armed with sticks and stones. The crowd, cheering wildly, rapidly made way for it, and the lorry charged at full speed at the closed gates.

Revolver Fire

A double cordon of police scattei*ed to escape being crushed to death. Chief Superintendent Fitz Gerald barely escaped with his life. After breaking down the gate, the lorry crashed into a cattle-pen inside the yard and stopped. The police were about to follow it inside when firing broke out in the yard. Armed police drew their revolvers and fired almost point-blank at the lorry. The defenceless men fell as they stood. Several who jumped out at the back were promptly arrested. The police ceased fire, but held their weapons in readiness for further action. None was needed. Within a minute the injured men staggered from the lorry and some fell in the

yard, and lay there. The many people who had been waiting for the sale to begin—including Mr. Desmond and Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill, who had sought safety when the unexpected firing began—hurried forward to give help to the injured, who were all Blue Shirts. One of the men, Michael Patrick Lynch, of Carrignavar, had been shot through the stomach and appeared on the point of death. A priest, called from a church near, administered the last rites to the man as he lay on the ground, and then Mrs. O'Neill took him to hospital, where he died.

Hand-to-Hand Battle. The shooting whipped the crowd outside to fierce fury. Police met them and a fierce hand-to-hand battle followed, the police using their batons and the farmers their sticks. More shots were heard, but it was impossible, in the confusion, to tell where they came from. Soon afterwards the crowd made another determined stand. Helmets went high in the air; men fell in the roadway, and, for a time the police, although fighting strenuously, were forced to give way. Later, the Daily Telegraph correspondent contiunues, the farmers marched through the town. While the procession was in progress a report spread that one of the injured men had died. The effect was elective. Down the lines of thousands of men and women marching in fours the word was passed. A great groan went up. There was a cry of "Where are the murderers?" , While a priest offered prayers for the dead, all in the procession fell to their knees in the streets and recited the Rosary- The Civic Guards removed their helmets and stood at attention. Traffic was suspended. Meanwhile, as a result of the fighting, the sheriff had announced that the sale would be adjourned. The owners of the seized cattle told the farmers this. Shortly afterwards the sheriff said that the sale would take place, and he began the proceedings just after 1.30. They were very brief. There was only one bidder, and he obtained the 14 cattle for £l7 15s.

Blue Shirt Pledge

Thousands of people lined the streets of Cork for the funeral of young- Lynch. Farmers and rural workers predominated and there was also an attendance of Blue Shirts. Commandant Cronin was with General O'Duffy and other leaders of that organisation. Blue Shirts were in charge of the funeral arrangements and the coffin was draped with their flag. The funeral service in Cork was without incident and afterwards the procession set out on the ten-mile journey to Carrignavar for the interment.

It is said that the Blue Shirt organisation asked the Government to provide rifles for a firing party—a privilege regularly granted at the funerals of I.R.A. members. This was the first time the Blue Shirts had made such a request. The Government refused it and, instead of a firing party, Blue Shirt buglers

sounded the Last Post. In a graveside oration, General O'Duffy said: "In the worst days of the Black and Tans in this country nothing like this occurred. In the name of the Fine Gael Organisation (the Cosgrave Party) and the Blue Shirt oganisation I call upon the Government to disband immediately the armed section of the police force. The Blue Shirts will stand by the farmers more determinedly than ever. Our organisation will resist all forms of tyranny, whether official or unofficial. Judging by the nature of the wounds of the many injured, it would appear that the firing represented a deliberate attempt to kill."

Bar of Public Opinion. He described the occupants of the lorry as "Twenty brave men whose names will live for ever throughout Ireland." "We are assembled for a last tribute to a man who has been done to death in a most cruel and callous fashion. "The Irish farmer has always been ambitious to pay his way," said Gentral O'Duffy. "Although he is as industrious as ever and the fertile land has given a good harvest, the times have never been so bad since the Great Famine. The farming community of Ireland to-day is on the verge of starvation. Many were unable to meet their demands last year. Many more are in the same position this year, and I feel that next year every one of them will be in that position. "I have appealed to the Government on various platforms in the last six months to make an effort to save our main industry. Bailiffs have been turned loose on the farmers. The cattle of the most decent and lawabiding section of the community has been seized, and so, too, has their furniture. They have been bludgeoned and batoned and unlawfully imprisoned. I charge the Government with full responsibility for the death of Michael Lynch. They will be called upon to answer before the bar of public opinion."