More Bad Rioting Within Bombay

Wanganui Chronicle, 5 September 1946, Page 5

More Bad Rioting Within Bombay

Mounting Death Roll

Received 1 1.30 p.m. BOMBAY, Sept. 4. More serious rioting continued in Bombay to-day and the death roll is mounting.

Breaking out again this morning, the riots are continuing. Up to noon the police had to fire at mobs half a dozen times. An official statement says that the position in the city is still tense. In the mill area, in the northern part of Bombay, the situation is worst. Twenty-eight of the 70 mills were closed to-day. Up to noon to-day the casualties are reported at 30, including six killed. A mob broke into an office and made a bonfire of account books.

Official figures set the casualties up to the present at 123 killed and 404 injured. Revised figures for yesterday are 52 dead and 150 injured. More than 1100 suspects have been arrested.

The police opened tire 11 times and military once yesterday. Three thousand British and Indian troops are believed to be in Bombay, and upwards of 10,000 are available if required. Rioting was still reported at nightfall last night and had spread from the square mile in which it was previously confined through four square miles of industrial districts. Pitched

battles replaced stray assaults. Crowds threw huge stones and tossed flaming balls of rags soaked with petrol and paraffin, POLICE PARTY ATTACKED.

A crowd attacked a police party whom the City Police Commisisoner led in an attempt to round up suspected persons. Stone> and bottles were thrown at the police, who fired several times when a stone hit the commisisoner’s arm. The crowd finally was dispersed. The president of the Bombay Moslem League has appealed to Moslems to remove the black flags, which influence rioting, and restore the city’s normal life.