British M.P.s Mobbed

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30958, 14 January 1966, Page 9

British M.P.s Mobbed

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright) SALISBURY, January 13. Three British Labour members of Parliament were mobbed at a public meeting in Salisbury last night. One of them was dragged to the floor, kicked, and doused with a jug of water.

The three men—Mr Christopher Rowland, Mr David Ennals, and Dr. Jeremy Bray—were holding the meeting in a leading hotel to allow Rhodesians to put their views on the Rhodesian crisis and ask questions. Mr Rowland was hauled across a table, and kicked as he fell to the floor while another man poured water over him from a jug. Dr. Bray and Mr Ennals I were jostled and pushed. One

man pulled Dr. Bray’s hair. Mr Rowland was assisted from the hall —crowded by an almost entirely white audience of over 300 persons—as he and the two other members of Parliament were shown into a small ante-room. The meeting dispersed slowly but noisily. Jeers And Shouts

The disturbance began after two hours of almost continuous jeering, shouting and heckling.

A group of whites gradually moved forward in the hall as the three British visitors—on the third day of a private factfinding visit—tried to make their voices heard. In a statement before the meeting, the three politicians said they felt Rhodesia had been permanently damaged already by the economic sanctions imposed since Rhodesia seized independence. The Prime Minister, Mr lan Smith, they said, had admitted when they met him that economic sanctions imposed by Britain had escalated beyond what had been expected. “Economic Disaster’’ They said the sanctions were not a “hump’’ which Rhodesia would overcome in a matter of weeks or even months, but a slide into economic disaster, unemployment and inflation with no time limit and increasing hardship. Their statement said that they had found no evidence among businessmen and industrialists to support Mr Smith’s claim that outside interests were stepping in to support the Rhodesian economy. U.S. Atomic Aid.—The United States has formally signed an agreement with Indonesia extending for five years the atoms-for-peace programme between the two countries. Washington, January 13.