RESTIVE IRISHMEN

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 289, 4 September 1942, Page 6

RESTIVE IRISHMEN

Sequel To Execution

In Belfast

ARMOURED PATROL Number Of Further Arms Dumps Found

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) LONDON, September 2.

Thomas Williams, the I.R.A. youth who was sentenced to death for the murder' of a policeman in Belfast, has been executed. -

Police took elaborate precautions to prevent demonstrations, and cordoned a large area surrounding the prison and patrolled the streets in ears. Thousands of workers living outside the cordon were forced to make a detour. All United States troops in Northern Ireland were confined to barracks during the execution of Williams, and all troops were warned to be on their guard. An order was issued in Belfast and Londonderry-that troops must go about in twos and threes and avoid walking alone, particularly in the blackout. Armoured cars are patrolling Belfast. Shops and business premises in Dublin were closed between 11 a.m. and noon today, and services for Williams were held in a number of churches. Flags on public buildings were flown at half-mast. A crowd of several hundred people gathered this morning near the home of Thomas Williams in Bombay Street, Belfast, and then marched through adjoining thoroughfares singing Republican’ songs. The blinds of every house in Bombay Street were drawn, and when the crowd reached Williams’s home they stopped for a minute’s silence. Dubliners Demonstrate. People flocked to the Roman Catholic churches, where Masses for the dead -were said. Vast crowds thronged the main street of. Dublin this morning and made hostile, demonstration against shops which attempted to stay open between 11 a.m. and noon. The shops were quickly closed. Some windows were-broken. '

All the Dublin cinemas remained closed until 6 p.m. The. size of the crowds brought traffic to a standstill, and attempts by the police to disperse the crowds failed. A large congregation filled the pro-cathedral for Mass for Williams. The Lord Mayor and members of the corporation and members of the Dail attended. Black flags were hoisted on telegraph poles and houses in Carickhill,_ a Natioualist .district of Belfast, this afternoon. A thousand Belfast members or the Transport General Workers’ Union stopped work as a protest against Williams’s execution. There was a similar stoppage at Newry, where Roman Catholic shops closed.. I J ractically all the principal - shops and industrial business concerns at . Waterford observed a one-hour cessation of work. T’he. Belfast' police stated that.? lorry preceded by a car,'both filled witn armed men, entered;Northern Ireland at Culloville, County /Armagh,’ this -afternoon.- A sergeant and a policeman in a patrolling Customs car followed and encountered the party, which had dismounted from ' their vehicles round a bend. The men immediately opened fire against the .police with tommy-guns and automatics. The sergeant returned . the fire, but flying glass knocked him out, and the driver was seized before he was able to draw his revolver. The assailants, one of whom was wounded, then re-entered their vehicles and recrossed the border. Belfast Incident. Two men were sentenced at Belfast tothree months' imprisonment for riotous behaviour and assault on a policeman. It was stated in evidence that they were in a crowd of 300 near the City Hall, which, stopped traffic and. surrounded a car. . Members of the. crowd were shouting and singing, and two women gave American soldiers the Nazi salute and shoutedat them. A,policeman who warned the women received a blow on the back of the head and was knocked'down. One of the accused ran away, and the other jabbed a bicycle in the policeman's face. The crowd began throwing bottles and other articles. The crowd followed when the accused was being taken to tlie police station. The magistrate, in imposing sentence, said he was satisfied that the crowd was a menace to the peace of the city. The police are reported to have, seized a document which may lead, to further discoveries of hidden ' arsenals. Police last night found scores of small arms in dumps consistingmostly of rifles and ammunition. They arrested another I.R.A. suspect today. .... -- The special-branch in London has reinforced: the normal police guards at Government buildings, as a precaution against reprisals.