FURTHER RIOTS

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 163, 19 July 1935, Page 3

FURTHER RIOTS

OCCUR IN BELFAST FUNERAL PROCESSION FIRED AT BELFFAST, July 17. The death roll in the riots has reached six. A man succumbed in the street from a bullet wound in the head. Fire brigades suppressed further outbreaks of incendiarism. The troops were reinforced by fresh contingents, who were compelled to fire machine-guns over the heads of the crowds to quell disturbances. Despite ample military and police precautions, trouble broke out during the funeral of Thomas McDowell, a week-end victim, which was attended by thousands. Shots from a side street threw the crowd into confusion, and Loyalists attacked Nationalises, who promptly retaliated. The procession, despite police efforts, became a series of melees all the way to the cemetery, culminating in a fight with stones. Constables were compelled to fire over the heads of the crowd until the riod was quelled, enabling the minister to complete the burial service. Further disturbances marked the return journey, upon which thousands of youths, headed by a leader with a wounded arm, maintained a rough military formation until shots were fired, transforming them info a rabble which eventually dispersed.