MASSACRE AT SHANGHAI.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17078, 16 April 1927, Page 7

MASSACRE AT SHANGHAI.

COR/lIYJUNJSTS FIRED ON. WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN FRONT. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn.) SHANGHAI, April 14. What foreigners in Shanghai thought was an ordinary ease of the shooting of extremists at Chapei, the native quarter, proved to he the most sanguinary slaughter in the Chinese struggle. Hundreds of Communists, who had evaded arrest, made a determined attempt to rejoin their comrades, whom the Cantonese troops had rounded up. They intended to take them supplies of arms and ammunition. Realising that the authorities were determined to shoot if the least provocation were given, the Communists attempted to rush the headquarters of the Cantonese under a screen formed by hundreds of women and children, including their own wives. These women and children the Communists pushed' before them, thinking the soldiers would refuse to lire into the helpless mass. The hope proved to have been horribly unfounded. When the procession was within a lew yards of the gates of the headquarters the soldiers opened a dcadlj fusillade. Twenty women and children fell dead, and many others were wounded. The Communists were deprived of their arms. They have now formed a hatchet brigade and have armed themselves with crowbars, axes and choppers. They are determined not to surrender without further f!ghtin 0 .