BELFAST RIOTS

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 159, 15 July 1935, Page 3

BELFAST RIOTS

Military Called Out TO QUELL FBENZIED CROWDS POLICE FIRE OVER THE MOB By Telegraph —Copyright —Press Assn. BELFAST, July 14. Four were killed and twenty (taken to hospital following /riots that broke out during the Battle of the Boyne celebrations. One woman was killed during the afternoon and it was thought that the trouble had been quelled. The rioters, however, wrecked and burned a number of houses in the evening, and it was not until the imilitary were called iout that the city became quiet.

Hardly had Lord Craigavon told Orangemen at Gilford that the prospects in Northern Ireland were bright and hopeful when a fierce riot broke out in Belfast, necessitating the proclamation of martial law. Lord Craigavon said that recent conversations with Dominion Premiers made him realise the importance of Ulster as a factor in Imperial affairs, in which Orangemen were destined to play" an important part.

The Belfast disturbance was precipitated in the Dockland quarter, where stones were thrown and revolvers fired from upper windows at a Scottish -band returning from a procession in celebration of the Battle of the Boyne. Pipers and drummers scornfully continued to march to the music.

Police reinforcements were rushed to the scene and an armoured car fired over the heads of the mob, thousands of whom stampeded for refuge in the nearest buildings.

Mrs Margaret Rodgers was killed. Margiarot Lang was shot in the stomach and is not expected to recover. A constable, a detective and nearly forty others were wounded by revolver shots.

The firing was believed to be more widely spread than was actually the case owing to the volley-like sound of the Lambeg drums, which are deafeningly beaten with the hands as part of the ceremonies until blood streams from the performers thumbs, discolouring the drumheads. A recrudescence of the shooting occurred in the evening. Ellen Connor, a septuagenarian, was found dying in the street with wounds in. the head. A vollev fired into a public bouse

injured, a customer. Occasional shots were fired in the daytime, and wounded a watchman mud a boy. Armoured cars are patrolling the Dockland area. Curfew has been introduced.

Fighting continued until after m-.d--night. The frenzied crowds wrecked and burned a number of houses in the York street area. The police used batons, rifles and (armoured cars, and finally the military were called out. Numbers of the Border Regiment arrived in lorries wearing steel helmets.

The casualties were four killed and 20 ‘in hospital, including a policeman, who was shot in Ifihe shoulder. 30 or 40 were treated for minor injuries.