RIOTS ON ISLE OF MAN

Southland Times, Issue 24548, 24 September 1941, Page 5

RIOTS ON ISLE OF MAN

MINISTER JEERED BY FASCISTS AXIS SUBJECTS IN CAMP LONDON, September 22. After the fascist I'ioting, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Osbert Peake, arrived at Peel, on the Isle of Man, by air last night and proceeded to the camp. The fascists jeered immediately he tried to speak, and one shouted “He’s a Jew, don’t listen to him.” Mr Peake raised his arm for silence, whereupon there were shouts of “That’s the right salute,” and a chorus of cries of “Mosley” followed. Mr Peaice succeeded in speaking briefly and appealed for order in their own interests, after which the night was quiet. The fascists threw three stones at Mr Peake, but he was not hit. They also shouted: “We British behind the wires want justice.” It is understood the fascists will be made to pay for the damage done during the riot. The Isle of Man internee riots resulted in strong criticism from a special correspondent of The Daily Mail concerning the whole internment policy. The correspondent reveals that Germans and Italians constitute the majority of the 9000 released internees. “One only hopes that not too many are being released,” he said. “There seems to be a tendency to swing to excessive leniency when not the faintest risk should be taken in liberating men who could aid the Germans in sabotage and confusion, which are in the forefront of invasion tactics. Tribunals are constantly sitting on the Isle of Man releasing internees, but new parties are arriving from the Dominions, who now decline to establish tribunals and reconsign internees to the Isle of Man for inquiry. “Peel’s 700 internees responsible for the week-end riots include many of German and Italian extraction who were interned with British fascists because they belonged to Sir Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Union. They should be sent to German and Italian camps, where they would learn to behave. Their arrogant behaviour demands tough officers who would bear down heavily on such outrages as the wholesale switching on of lights at midnight, which might be most useful to U-boats in the Irish Sea. Manx people say the camps are generally insufficiently controlled and the internees receive excessive beer and food from visitors, in addition to liberal rations exceeding those of the civilians in the blitzed areas.