GOLD COAST RIOTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26719, 13 March 1948, Page 7

GOLD COAST RIOTS

HEAVY LOSSES THROUGH LOOTING LONDON, Mar. 11. ' Goods valued at about £1.000,000 were looted from commercial buildings in Accra, Gold Coast, during the recent riots, said Mr Rees-Williams, Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Colonial Office, in the House of Commons to-day. The Daily Express correspondent who is investigating the riots says it is estimated that £2,000,000 worth of damage was done by looting and rioting. White residents have banded together to patrol the European residential section at night, and commerce is almost at a standstill.

Strict censorship and a curfew are being enforced by the authorities, and the local garrison, reinforced by troops from Nigeria, is manning road blocks and hunting for looters. The Governor, Sir Gerald Creasy, is expected to announce a public inquiry to establish the cause of the riots. The correspondent claims that Gold Coast ex-servicemen were used as dupes by the rioters.

As an ex-servicemen’s procession was marching toward the Governor’s residence, looters suddenly broke into shops and handed out liquor and all manner of goods. These looters did not come from the ranks of the exservicemen, but used the procession as a shield for their operations.