BARCELONA REVOLT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14013, 18 September 1909, Page 6

BARCELONA REVOLT.

BLOOD AND FIRE

SCENES OF SAVAGE BRUTALITY

The following account ot the Barcelona revolt appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, dated London, August 6:— Tho 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 tor military service, which arc now suspended, highly favoured the richer classes, so that Morocco provided a ground tor tho agitations. As Monday progressed the tramways and many establishments continued working. It was to stop this remnant ot activity, says the Daily Telegraph's correspondent, that vigilance began. Tramcars were derailed, overturned, and stoned, and the combative propensities of the crowd were aroused. There were only 800 soldiers in the city, and some civil guards. The latter confronted the rioters and dispersed them in one quarter, but they were re-inforced 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" some disobeyed, while others fired into the air. Many of tho civil guard ÜBetl their weapons vigorously ; others re-, fused to fire on the people. In the midst of this confusion the civil governor resigned, and the military governor wired for reinforcements. At 10 o'clock on Monday* evening the mob had passed out of control. It abandoned stone-throwing in the centre of the town, and went further afield. It fired the Convent of Escolapios and the Church of Saint Pablo. This was the first taste of battle againßt the clergy, and inspired the mob to fresh outrages. There is a long-standing hatred Detween democracy and the clergy, because the latter are exempt from taxation, and possess enormous wealth, forming a State within a State ; they constitute one of strongest conservative barriers against the aspirations of the democrats. In Barcelona, particularly, for the last fifteen years have convents multiplied. Orders which fled from Cuba and the Philippines took refuge there. They crowd the best quarters of the city, and their buildings here are amongst the most imposing in Barcelona. Many Monastic institutions in Barcelona have become industrial establishment*, 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. 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 camp up again at an opportune moment wnen 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 of petroleum, with which thejf 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 j rarely exceeded one 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, Ju1y. 27.. Eighteen fires illuminated the whole city and only the providential lack of wind prevented an immense disaster. Nearby all the churches in Barcelona were destroyed. Scenes of most savage brutality were witnessed. Popular fancy led itself upon 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 burying their dead within" the walls. Cried the mob, "Here's the treasury. This is where ] they buried their gold and silver." So with atones, staves, and axes they liegan to batter down the masonry. Coffins appeared. There was a moment's hesitation, and silence. All respect had vanished even for the dead. Inipuro hands stretched into the. vault, hauled out the coffins amidst savage cries and laughter. Coffins were smashed with stone and kicked open. There were 14, containing bodies of nun« The canaille laughed in the faces of the dead sisters, and tore off th^r shrouds. Some 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 carried to I^ambla. and left in the doorway of a patrican's * house. The ificendiaries got up a mock funeral, and marched in a procession, accompanied by their wives, singing profane songs. The total death-roll did not exceed 100. The wounded numbered 300, and about 000 were locked up in a fortress for trial. These totals are hardly the figures of a revolution. They show, says one reporter, that Barcelona did not move. By Saturday night the disturbance had fizzled out. There were riots in other Catalonean towns, biit tho trouble was chiefly centred at Barcelona.