Ireland Tense After I.R.A. Execution

Manawatu Times, Volume 67, Issue 112, 5 September 1942, Page 8

Ireland Tense After I.R.A. Execution

ALLIED TROOPS ON GUARD AGAINST TERRORISTS. LONDON, Sept. 2. All the United States troops in Northern Ireland were confined to barracks during the execution of Thomas Williams, I.R.A. terrorist, and all troops were warned to be on their guard. An order issued in Belfast and Londonderry said that all troops must go about in twos and threes and avoid walking alone, particularly after the blackout. Armoured cars are patrolling Belfast. These precautions were taken following the rejection by the Govenfor of Northern Ireland of a final appeal for a reprieve of Williams. Williams was one of six I.R.A. members who were sentenced to death for shooting a policeman in Belfast. The five others were reprieved and sentenced to long terms of j imprisonment. The death sentence on Williams remained because lie admitted that it was at his suggestion that the i policeman was shot. I.R.A. Terrorist Plot. The Army precautions and the tension over Williams's execution are set against the larger background of I.R.A. plotting.! Several I.R.A. arms dumps have been discovered in Ulster in the past few days, and a statement issued yesterday by the Belfast police said that the Irish, Republican Army was preparing to attack British and American troops in Northern Ireland. According to the police in Belfast, the LILA, had circulated a manifesto which refused to admit the right of England or any Bower to maintain forces in any part of Irish territory without the free consent of the Irish forces. The manifesto went on to say that, if American troops were involved in any hostilities that might break, out between Britain and the ir±sh Republic, the responsibility would rest with those “who had presumed to use North-East Ireland as a military base without the free consent of the Irish people.” Police are reported to have seized a document which may lead to further discoveries of hidden arsenals. The police last night found scores of small dumps, consisting mostly of rifles and ammunition. They arrested another LILA, suspect to-day. The Special Branch in London reinforced. the normal police guards on Gov- | ernnient buildings as a precaution against reprisals. Shops and businesses in Dublin closed from 11. a.m. to noon and services for Williams' were held at a number of churches. Fiags on public buildings were down at half-mast. . Belfast and Dublin Scenes, j A crowd of several hundred gathered this morning near William’s home in Bombay Street, Belfast, and then marched through adjoining thoroughfares singing Republican songs. The blinds of every 1 house in Bombay Street were drawn, and when the crowd reached Williams’s home it stopped for a minute’s silence. People flocked to Roman Catholic churches, where Masses for the dead were said. Vast crowds thronged the main street of Dublin this morning and made hostile demonstrations against shops which attempted to stay open between 11 a.m. and noon. The shops quickly closed. Some windows were broken. All Dublin cinemas remained closed until 6 p.m. The size of the crowds brought traffic to a standstill. Police attempts to disperse the crowds failed. A large congregation filled the pro-cathedral for Mass for Williams. The Lord Mayor, the corporation, and members of the Dali attended. Black Flags Hoisted.

Black flags were Hoisted on telegraph poles and on houses in the Carick Hill (Nationalist) district of Belfast. This afternoon, 1000 Belfast members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union stopped work as a protest against Williams’s execution.

There were similar stoppages at Newry, where Roman Catholic shops were closed. Practicany all the principal shops and industrial and business concerns at Waterford observed one hour’s cessation of work. The Belfast police stated that a lorry preceded by a car, both tilled with armed men, this afternoon entered Northern Ireland at Culloville, County Armagh. A sergeant and policemen in a patrolling Customs car followed and encountered the party, dismounted from its vehicles, around a bend. The men immediatly opened fire against the police with tom-my-guns and automatic weapons. 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 the vehicles and recrossed the border. Two men were sentenced in Belfast to-day to three 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 shouting and singing. Two women gave American soldiers the Nazi salute and ! shouted at 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 jammed his bicycle in the policeman’s face. Then the crowd began throwing bottles and other articles. The crowd followed when the accused were being taken to the police station, and attemped to release them. The magistrate, in imposing sentence, said he was satisfied that the crowd was a menace to the city’s peace.