BELFAST RIOTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1920, Page 5

BELFAST RIOTS.

WORST DISORDERS OVER.

ESTIMATE OF CASUALTIES. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received July 25, 5.5 p.m.

London, July 24,

Though the worst disorders have ended in Belfast, occasional outbreaks continue. It is estimated that fourteen were killed and three hundred wounded, but the Sinn Feiners are believed to have taken a number of their dead, so they are not included in the casualty list.

Some of the Sinn Feiners' snipers, the accuracy of whose aim showed they were ex-soldiers, fired upon trotfps from housetops, until volleys from machine-guns dislodged them. Acting under Sir Edward Carson's orders, patrols belonging to the Unionist Clubs are assisting the authorities to preserve order. A number of girls in Belfast held indignation meetings against the Sinn Fein outrages. The girls sang loyalist songs and passed a resolution that they would not work with Sinn Feiners.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

THE TRAIL OF TERRORISM. LATEST SINN FEIN CRIMES. Received July 25, 5.5 p.m. London, July 24. Returning after the funeral of Constable Carey, who was murdered in Tuani, masked men took the hearse from the undertakers and burnt it. During the coroner's inquiry into the death of two youths at Miehelstown, the evidence showed that the youths were joking with a party of girls, when a military lorry, with fifteen soldiers, drove up and fired, killing the two youths. The sergeant commanding the party said that someone in the crowd fired at the lorry, whereupon tlie soldiers fired 119 rounds.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. CRUELTY TO A FARMER. Received July 25, 5.5 p.m. London, July 23. A dozen armed and disguised men dragged a Roscommon farmer from his bed, forced him on to his knees in the roadway,, and compelled him, at a revolvers point, to promise to induce his son to retire from the police within a fortnight.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. BELFAST QUIETER.

ATTACK ON THE CONVENT. BUILDING SET ON FIRE. Received July 2G, 12.15 a.m. London, July 24. Belfast is quieter to-day after a comparatively quiet night. Although rioting was continued in some quarters there were fewer casualties. The most serious incident was an attack on the convent, the neighbourhood of which had be. a rioting and looting,. necessitating the nuns leaving yesterday. A crowd, at ten o'clock at niglit, became definitely hostile, and made an organised effort to destroy the convent by fire. They drenched a liedge with paraffin and petrol, 6maßhed the gate, rushed, and ultimately burst, the door, and on enWring, they saturated the floor and ignited the lower rooms. The police made a baton charge, and with the military, cleared the streets. An armoured car fired on the rioters. The fire brigade succeeded in confining the lire to the lower rooms.

Large numbers of refugees from Belfast are arriving in County Tyronne. Rioting occurred yesterday in Dromore, where the Catholic Club and the parochial hall were wrecked. Last night the police fired and one rioter was killed.

Further drafts from Aldershot are proceeding -to Ireland, and others, including the first cavalry brigade, are held in readiness.—Aus,-N.Z. Cable Assn.