TWO AGAINST A MOB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

TWO AGAINST A MOB.

ARAB SEAMEN IN WILD RIOT. TWO PLUCKY POLICEMEN. BACKS TO THE WALL. Tribute to two Welsh policemen, Sergeant Williams and Constable Ginn, of the Cardiff force, was paid by Sir ,Henry Dickens, K.C., tlic Common Sergeant, at the Old Bailey, London, recently. The case was one in which Arab and Somali seamen were charged following riots in the Cardiff Docks area. Four Arabs, Musla Mohamed, Ali Mohamed, Ahmed Ali, and Ahmed Nagi, bad already been found not guilty of riot.ing ? but guilty of assaulting fellow-seamen, and Sir Henry postponed sentence until the conclusion of the second case, in which seven Arabs and one Somali were charged with riot and assault on the police. The accused men were Abdulla Salem, Abdul Sahir, Muskin Abdulla, Caleb Owen, Mohamed Messade, Saleh Mohamed, Halnien Ali, and Abdul Rohamed. Sal eh Mohamed was also charged with wounding another Somali named Mahinood Mohamed, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Hundreds of Arabs and Somalis took part in the riots as a protest against a

new form of registration by numbering for unemployed coloured seamen, introduced by the National Maritime Boqjd. " We no number, and we kill anyone that do,'* they chanted as they surged around the shipping offices. So threatening was their attitude toward a Somali named Mahmood Mohamed that two stalwart Cardiff policemen, Sergeant Williams and Constable Ginn, escorted him toward his home.

Sergeant Williams gave Sir Henry a graphic account of the scene. " A mob of 300 Arabs were howling like wild boasts," he declared. " They were shouting 'Scab, kill him,' and 'We fight police,' and ' We no afraid of calaboosh ' (prison)." The crisis came . when a powerful Somali named Saleli Mohamad struck Mahmood to tho ground with a bottle concealed in newspaper. Constable Ginn retaliated with his truncheon, and was bending over the injured man when Saleli fell upon him. As the officer and the Somali struggled on the ground Sergeant Williams dragged Mahmood away and, with his back to the wall, kept the crowd at bay. Things looked black for the two officers. Howling threats, the mob, armed with knives, bottles, and hammers, were beginning a second charge when reinforcements arrived and cleared the street.

Summing up, Sir Henry asked the jury to imagine what the position would

have been if the two police officers had not shown courage and stood over Mihmood Mohamed when lie fell. " U'hat <lci yon think the result would have been with a howling crowd like tlfat ?" he said. " That man would probably never have come out alive." Detective-Inspector A. Davies stated that the chief constable had asked that a recommendation for the deportation of tho men should be considered.

Sir Henry consented in tho cases of Saleh Mohamed and Halmen Ali, who were each sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. Mohamed Messade and Abdul Rohained were each sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, and the remaining four were sentenced to six months' imprisonment, in the second division. The four Arabs who had been found guilty of assault were sentenced to four months' in the second division.

Addressing Sergeant Williams and Constable Ginn, Sir Henry Dickens stated: "T desire to express my high appreciation of your conduct. 1 believe myself that if it had not been for your courageous interposition, Mahmood would have lost his life. The country is much indebted to you, and I hope it will be brought to the attention of tho chief constable."