A DANGEROUS SITUATION.

North Otago Times, Volume CVII, Issue 17165, 23 March 1927, Page 5

A DANGEROUS SITUATION.

--Prt/33 AsKcclaiioii-

{A'.istrE,l:a'.i sv.il K.K. Pi&ss Assosls-ticn.)

MURDER AND LOOTING. COMMANDERS CONFERRING.

(Gable—

-Oypyrig-ht.)

Received March 22, 10.12 a.m. SHANGHAI, March 21. Confusion is increasing hourly and the situation is fraught with grave danger. One thousand United States marines, three hundred Japanese and other nations' forces have been landed to assist to protect the international settlement. There have been several incidents in the International and French settlements accompanied by bloodshed. Civilians at Chapei have embarked on an orgy of looting, prefaced by the seizure of all the native police stations with their stocks of arms and ammunition, which were used to kill the police. Most of the police fled to the settlement begging entry. They were first disarmed; ,but scores were killed. Thousands of civilians are crowding the entrance to the gates, pleading for permission to enter. These were several minor riots in the main streets of the settlement in the afternoon. Bricks and missiles were hurled at the police from the tops of buildings, causing minor injuries. The buildings were cleared by the authorities 1 hurriedly, and additional barricades were erected at the intersections of the Nanking road. - ° ® ■ | \ WARNING TO LOITERERS. j The Kuomintang flag has been | hoisted at the Post Office and other Government buildings. The declaration of a state of emergency issued at noon, warns against loitering in the streets and forhids assemblies and demonstrations without the Council's written permission. It advises residents to keep to their houses after darkness. The Council declares its intention of continuing to co-operate with the Chinese j authorities and directing all the en- ; i ergies and resources tow-a-rds main- j | taining order and ensuring the safe- i j ty of life and property within the j i area under its control. It says that I the Council will rigo'rously suppress ' I all forms of violence and di6order I I and to this end will not hesitate to | use the means at its disposal. Fin- [ ; ally, the Council warns against the j j activities of professional agitators j ! who are taking advantage of the ; disturbed conditions' to preach doc- j ; trines of violence and class hatred | i at a time when toleration and mod- ! ! eration are more than ever neces- i ; sary. » I , A REIGN OF TERROR. | The Nationalist occupation of the : native part of Shanghai, which may | now be considered an accomplished | fact, took the dual form of a mili- | tary advance from Minhong hy a j few thousand Nationalist troops, ; and an effective internal action hy ; Nationalist gunmen. in mufti, who, ; on a prearranged signal early in the ! morning, began a reign of terror in | the district of Chape and Nantao. [They seized several^ native police I stations by surprise attajcks, and set ; fire to one. The occupants of one ; station resisted and. beat off the attackers, inflicting several casualties. There was a certain amount of indiscriminate firing in the settlementitself, a Portuguese volunteer, motoring to the Bund to join his company being daringly fired on twice by Nationalist gunmen, one bullet smashing the windscreen and the other lodging in the woodwork behind the driver's shoulder. DURHAMS ON GUARD. The Durhams .are guarding Marcham road bridge, where just previously they repelled an attaclc by Chinese loafers. Northern deserters ■swarming over the bridge behind refugees, fired five shots at the Durhams, but a squad of these fixed bayonets, and advanced calmly. The invading looters retreated. The Durhams' machine guns now command the bridge, while every telephone post on the outskirts of the settlement is surrounded by sandbags and protected by machine gun j nests. i British troops have already ad- j vanced well beyond the boundaries as unless Chinese trouble-maker:: { are held in (check, the settlement ! will he come the target for indis- ! criminate 6helling. Already the na- | tive city is unsafe to enter. Dis- i banded Northern soldiers are foot- i ing on a wholesale scale, firing at random and ' heheading without | cause. To-night fire has broken out j irr the Chapei district in the native j city, illuminating the sky, while shooting continues unintefruptedly.