BARCELONA REVOLT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14158, 6 September 1909, Page 6

BARCELONA REVOLT.

SAVAGE BRUTALITY.

FORTY CHURCHES BURNED.

MANY KILLED AND WOUNDED,

Lo.vdo.v (via Fremantle}, August 6. Tht: Barcelona revolt began on Monday morning as a protest against the Moroccan war, the republicans alleging that it was a capitalists' campaign. Easy payment exemptions for military service, which are now suspended, highly favoured the richer classes, so.that Morocco provided a ground for the agitations. As Monday progressed the tramways and many establishments continued working. It was to stop this remnant, of activity, says tho Daily Telegraph's correspondent, that vigilance began. Tramcars were derailed, overturned, and stoned, and tho combative propensities of the crowd wore aroused. There were only SCO soldiers in the city, and somo civil guards. The latter confronted tho rioters and dispersed them in one quarter, but they were reinforced in another, and disorder spread everywhere. When the soldiers appeared on the scene they were greeted with " Long live the army- We don't want you to die in Africa. This unjust war was brought about by mine proprietors, not by the nation," but the soldiers did not fraternise. They remained inert. They carried out evolutions, and when ordered to " fire." somo disobeyed, while others bred into tho air. . Many of the civil guard used their weapons vigorously ; others refusal to fire on tho people. In the midst of this confusion tho civil governor resigned, and tho military governor wired for reinforcements. At 10 o'clock on Monday evening the mob had passed out, of control. They abandoned stone-throwing in tho centre of tho town, and went further afield. They fired the Convent of Escolapios and the Church of Saint Pablo. This was the first taste of battle against tho clergy, and inspired the mob to fresh outrages. There is a long-standing haired between democracy and the clergy, because they were privileged, exempt from taxation, and possess enormous wealth, forming a State within tho State; they constitute one of tho strongest conservative barriers against the aspirations of the democrats. In Barcelona particularly for tho last 15 years have convents multiplied. Orders which tied from Cuba and the Philippines took refuge here. They crowd the best quarters of tho city, and their buildings here aro amongst tho most imposing in Barcelona. Many monastic institutions in Barcelona have become industrial establishments, which produce all kinds of things, from liqueurs to table linen, under conditions which, with the exemption of taxes, which are very heavy in Spain, render them extremely favourable. These aro practical reasons for popular hostility. The idea of burning these institutions is not new. It had already been suggested by the radical press as a summary means of making an end to the priests, and came up again at an opportune moment, when the revolutionists felt they had a free hand. The attack on the convents was carried out in a very extraordinary fashion. In a deserted street there appeared a man on a bicycle, who made a sort of reconnaissance, and finding no civil guards about, disappeared. Shortly afterwards up came five or six boys with a tin o,f petroleum, with which they sprinkled the doors. They then set fire to the building and hurried away. Then arrived a group, who completed the work of incendiarism. The numbers rarely exceeded a hundred persons. _ Some religious establishments were quietly burned under the very eyes of a squad of soldiers with grounded" arms. At several convents there arrived heralds of incendiarism, who knocked at the doors, and said to the porter, " We will return in half an hour and burn the church and convent. You had better leave it." The monks accordingly left and took refuge in neighbouring houses. This work became systematic on Tuesday night, July 27. * Eighteen fires illuminated the whole city, and only the providential lack of wind prevented an immense disaster. Nearly all the churches in Barcelona were destroyed. One church, which must, have, been very beautiful— that of Santa Modrona—shut in between barricades, was completely gutted under the destroying tongues of the flames, and the sculptured stone of the entrance fell. A magnificent stained glass window was shattered, and the window frames melted. Many masterpieces of art have been lost. Scenes of most savage brutality were witnessed. Popular fancy fed itself up to fantastic stories of secrets of inquisition and torture chambers. Thus after tho fire had devoured the Magdalen Convent, the mob entered it, inspired by perverse fury. They reached a room on the. ground floor and saw what appeared bricked-up windows. These were vaults; because convents have, the privilege of Jurying, their dead within the walls. Cried the mob, "Here's the treasury. This is where they buried their gold and silver." So with stones, staves, and axes they began to batter down the masonry, Coffins appeared. There was a moment's hesitation and silence. All respect had vanished even for the dead. Impure hands stretched into the vault, hauled out the coffins amidst savage cries and laughter. Coffins were, slashed with stones and kicked open. There were 14, containing bodies of nuns. The canaille laughted in tho faces of tho dead sisters, and tore off their shrouds. Somo bodies were placed standing at the door, rifles being slipped under their crossed arms, so they should resemble sentries. Thus they remained until the next day. Two corpses were car- : ried to Rambla, and left in the doorway of a patrician's house. The incendiaries got up a mock funeral, and marched in a procession, accompanied by their wives, singing profane songs. During Tuesday gunsmiths' shops were plundered of firearms and barricades thrown up at many of the street corners, but the mob's chief occupation was to fire the churches and convents. One section of the mob, armed with rifles and revolvers, took possession of an empty house. The gendarmes and a few soldiers laid siege to the buildings and dislodged them. The troops -were, fired on from windows, and in nearly all the streets scores of white flags hung out. At night the only light in the town was from the burning buildings. . A gam' of incendiaries, with torches and petroleum, attempted to fire the Jesuit monastery in the suburb of Saria. This place became the chief refuge for the clergy. Many had reached the building in disguise— in women's dress. The Jesuit fathers and pupils kept the mob at bay with firearms. When fresh troops entered the city on the 29th the artillery- was used against some of the barricades. A police post, which the mob hotly besieged for several hours, was relieved- The crowd attempting to fire the convent near the university was caught in the flank by the troops. A couple of volleys sent the mob flying in every direction. By this time the violence* of the mob was wearing out, and the absence of food helped to bring about order. Nevertheless the rioters attacked another convent on the 30th, and on the 31st they attain endeavoured to fire the convent in Callo Rogerdel Flor. Gendarmes fired on them, killed six, and took 16 prisoners. Military action became effective on Thursday. During that day, Friday, and Saturday there was much firing from roofs and windows. The barricades were but little used. Half a dozen in the suburbs were surrendered after the first shot. The rioters had little stomach for fighting. Thev robbed shops, shot three or four priests, who ran away from them, and vented their violence on everything connected with the Church. Altogether close on 40 convents and churches were destroyed. The total death-roll did* not exceed 150. The wounded numbered 300 and about 500 were locked up in a fortress for trial- ; These totals a'-e hardly tho figures of a I revolution. They show, says one reporter, that Barcelona did not move. By Saturday night the disturbance had fizzled out. There were riots in other Cat&lonean towns, but the trouble was chiefly centred I at Barcelona..