STRIKES IN SHANGHAI

Evening Star, Issue 23693, 28 September 1940, Page 12

STRIKES IN SHANGHAI

EXTENSION OF TROUBLE BOMB EXPLODES IN TRAMGAR SHANGHAI, September 26. The strikes are spreading. The municipal garbage and nightsoil collectors have stopped work, causing a threat of disease throughout the city. Mr V. A. Essen, head of a French bus company, and his Russian staff Jiave been missing for two days. They, are believed to have been kidnapped. A Portuguese foreman of the same company was kidnapped yesterday and released after ordering his men to quit work. Authoritative circles expect a crisis at the week-end. The directors of utilities companies declare the agitators are threatening that workers’ families will be harmed unless the workers in the power and gas industries and the waterworks strike at the week-end. It is understood that, the Japanese have so far not presented formal ■ demands on the French Concession.

An incendiary bomb explosion on board a French tram car under police guard wounded several passengers and set fire to the car. Three more Chinese were wounded in to-day’s Shanghai strike. Pickets tried to prevent a tram running, and the police fired into the air before the fracas was quelled. The strike has spread to a number of private concerns. A Korean, believed to be an adherent of Wang Ching-wei, is reported to have been seen haranguing workers last night at several offices where strikes have occurred.