MASSACRE AT TEHERAN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 206, 20 August 1908, Page 4

MASSACRE AT TEHERAN

i'KIWIAK PARLIAMENT JiOMJtARDED BY Tllli SIIAII. j 800 KILLED. ! - WoilEX SHOT DOWN IN THE ■STI! IiETS. llerlin, June 23. Despatches from Teheran to-night give graphic descriptions of the terrible carnage in the Persian capital which followed the Shah's determination to crush the reform movement. The Shah< ordered his troops to give the people a lesson which tliey would long remember, ami this order was executed with terrible ferocity. The Shall has gained a decisive victory in consequence, but the streets of the capital literally rail 1 with blood.

. All day long stubborn fighting tool; place in tlie streets between tlie imperial troops and tlie revolutionaries. After the rebels had been routed a savage massacre of the defenceless population followed.

The imperial troops swept everything before them. After mowing down crowds oi' people thronging the streets witli artillery. just as a reaping machine mows down corn, the troops forced an entrance to private houses ;U»d slaughtered men, women, and children withoi-t discrimination. Numberless acts of barbarous cruelly were perpetrated. The soldiers mutilated their victims, and even tortured them to death.

•Such wn.s the fate of eighteen leaders of tJie reform party, who were arrested, loaded .with chains, and taken befo/e the Shall. He ordered theni to be summarily put to death, whereupon the executioners tortured them to death with all the.possible refinement of cruelty. At least 300 persons were killed on the reform side, while the losses of ths troops were insignilicent. According to the Lokalanzieger, the Shah's troops stormed and captured tnc Mouse of Parliament. The building was sacked, and the open space in front is piled high with- corpses of men and women.

The Lokalan/.eiger. correspondent states that n number of reform leaders have barricaded themselves in the publie buildings, which are now being bombarded. Many buildings have, been lestroyed by shell fire, and even the imperial palace has been damaged. The Shah is determined to be master of. the situation at any cost.

It semes that at the beginning Ihe gnus fired were only loaded with blankcartridge meant to frighten the people, though finally shells were used. 1 was told hy one whp was fighting from the roof of the Assembly (says a press correspondent), that for an hour and a half they kept up a steady fire, but as thov got short of ammunition and the rillis became heated they could no longer resist.

MV informant added: "When the first sliolS liit l!i«' <lu<u* of the Assembly, breaking it open, tlu' Cossacks charged. We saw ourselves lost, ami fled'to the back. As soon ax tlu; soldiers rustm the House I hey stai'li'il everything in sight.' ; What struck me most was to see hundreds of people, who a few (lay* previously had gathered in the Assembly demonstrating against tiie Shah, taking a pJivt in'demolishing the House. N»il. a dour or window was lelt. Shouts were liea.nl: "Long livp the Shah! We don't want a Constitution."