Many Acts of Violence

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 11 August 1942, Page 5

Many Acts of Violence

POLICE FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS. (Rec. noon). London, Aug. 10. Rioting continues in Bombay, New Delhi, Poona and other Indian cities. The police are using revolvers, smoke bombs, teargas and lathis to disperse the crowds. An official communique issued at Bombay says yesterday s riots resulted in eleven persons being killed and 169 injured, including 91 police injured. Twenty-seven members of the public were injured in to-day’s disturbances but the number of dead and police casualties is unavailable. The communique adds that the police frustrated attempts to set fire to gasworks, also the Central India railway station. Three police stations were set on fire, two of which were gutted. A communique states that police and troops fired on rioting mobs in the city about ten times. Up to 4 o’clock numerous instances of mob violence occurred. A Press report states that police in the Dadar area of Bombay this morning were forced to fire on a large violent crowd which refused to disperse. In this and later firing eleven persons were wounded Demonstrators burnt a Government grainshop in the Kalbadevi area. Stoning of suburban trains is reported at Dadar. Interruption of work has now spread to eighteen mills. 1 he situation W’orsened in the afternoon in northern Bombay, where more trains were stoned, telegraph wires cut, street lamps smashed, and a post office attacked. Drivers abandoned a number of buses which were badly damaged. Twenty-five buses were abandoned in one street. All of north Bombay has been placed under a curfew.

The Delhi correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain reports that shops, mills and schools of New Delhi have been closed all day, but vital services are. not interrupted. Food shops are open and the situation appears under control. Large forces of Indian and British troops paraded through the old part of the city. Demonstrators were in an uglier mood than yesterday and forced the closure of a few shops remaining open, but dil not clash with the police. Markets in Karachi closed and students are not attending colleges. Work in some jute mills in Calcutta was interrupted and a number of shops closed. SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES CLOSED The Poona police after fruitless baton charges, fired on the crowd, mostly students trying to demonstrate near Parasurambhau College. Poona’s schools and colleges are closed. Police in Lucknow fired on a crowd of university students who, after organising a strike, attempted to form a procession despite a police ban thereon. The police first charged the crowd with lathis. Students began stoning, whereupon the police fired a volley and arrested five men and eight women students CALL TO HINDUS Police and soldiers are now guarding the university. 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' disobedience resolution and also not to take up a hostile attitude to Congress action pending decision by a meeting of the Mahasabha Working Committee on 29th August. He warned the Government that the only effective way to appease Indian discontent was an unequivocal declaration by Parliament granting India status completely free and equal partnership in the Indo-British Commonwealth. “This should immediately be implemented by investing India with actual political power.” he added. The Bombay correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain 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 the police expect rioting to die down within a couple of days unless Hindus and Moslems clash, in which case bloodshed is likely to continue all the summer.— P. A.