Clash in the Dark

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 959, 30 April 1930, Page 9

Clash in the Dark

POLICE FACE MOB OF 5000

Jeers Met by Rifle Fire

TWO MORE KILLED IN INDIAN RIOT

IX fierce rioting in Madras. India, where the police met the jeers of the mob with rifle bullets, two people were killed and many others hurt. A crowd of 5,000 stoned the police, who -fought a pitched battle in the darkness.

United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 12.20 p.m. DELHI, Tuesday. Further rioting is reported, this time at Madras, where two people were killed and many others were injured. The police opened fire on a mob of more than 5,000, who had attacked them with stones. The riot followed a meeting in connection with Gandhi's civil disobedience campaign. Scores of police, officers and men were injured by stones, as were the British Commissioner and the Deputy-Assistant Commissioner. The rioters also jeered at and stoned Europeans in motor-cars. Mounted policemen drove the mob on to a beach, where a fierce battle occurred in the darkness. Later the rioters returned to the town, where there was more stoning of the police, who opened lire on four occasions. Finally they dispersed the crowd, aided by a detachment of the Middlesex Regiment. QUESTION IN COMMONS A British Official Wireless message says in the House of Commons the Secretary for India, Mr. Wedgwood Benn, was asked by Mr. S. Baldwin, the Conservative leader, whether he could make a statement regarding the position in India. He replied that in respect of the

day-to-day developments of the civil disobedience campaign, he could add little to the full, and on the whole accurate reports, which had appeared in the Press. On April 27 the Governor-General had promulgated an emergency ordinance re-enacting with some modifications the Press Act of 1919, which ■was repealed In 1922. He concurred with this action. He feared he could make at present no further statements regarding the situation, which was engaging the constant attention of the British Government and the Government of India.

MISCONDUCT TROOPS HELD FOR INQUIRY Reed. 9.5 a.m. LONDON, Tuesday. The India Office, in a statement, reveals that during the recent Peshawar disturbances the conduct of two platoons, the Second and Eighteenth Royal Garhwal Rifles, was unsatisfactory. The battalion has accordingly been transferred to Abbottabad, where an inquiry is being held.