FACTION FIGHTING IN BELFAST STREETS.
TROOPS USE MACHINE GUNS.
CIVILIAN KILLED.
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. BELFAST, Thursday,
The disorders which broke out yesterday in Belfast wore continued today, and the situation this evening is one of considerable anxiety. The military had again to fire on mobs in the Ballymacarrett area, and what will happen after darkness sets in to-night it is difficult to foretell. There was considerable activity in military circles during the day, and vigorous steps were taken by Majorgeneral Sir Guy Bainbridge, commanding in Ulster, with a view to restoring order. A proclamation was issued that special constables will be enrolled for the preservation of the peace and the protection of property.
A second proclamation prohibited the holding of to-night’s mass meeting of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters, Joiners, and Cabinetmakers in the Assembly Hall, on the ground that it would give rise to grave disorder and cause undue demands to be made upon the police or military forces. This meeting was a sequel to the attempt of the executive of the society in England to deal with the cases of members expelled from the shipyards. The majority of the Belfast members are hostile to the executive, which recently passed a Sinn Fein resolution and threatened to call a strike if the expelled men were not reinstated.
Last night’s disturbances reached their climax after midnight, and from that hour till three o’clock there was great disorder. The fire brigade was called out twenty-six times between eight p.m. and two a.m., and to-day it received twelve calls between nine a.m. and four p.m. Fierce attacks were made on spirit grocers and other establishments, and in numerous instances buildings were set on fire, and there was also a good deal of looting.
ATTEMPT TO STEAL A LEWIS GUN.
Liveliness prevailed on the Newtownards road, and baton charges were made by the police. Cases were occurring of people being forcibly ejected from dwelling-houses, and huge bonfires told of the fate of furniture owned by the hapless victims. In the direction of Mountpottinger the prevailing spirit of lawlessness spread with great rapidity. Baton charges were frequent in Templemore-avenue, the crowd being driven to the Albert Bridge-road district. An amusing incident from the onlookers’ point of view, but one calculated to have serious consequences for the principal actor, occurred in Calvin-street. In the centre of the roadway was a Lewis gun with an attendant soldier lying alongside it. The gunner’s comrades were busily engaged driving back the crowd, when a man slipped through the cordon, coolly lifted up the gun, and was in the act of walking off with it, when he was collared and handed over to the custody of the police.
The orgie of violence continued with unabated vigour for several hours longer. The action of three or four young men in throwing stones at an armoured car as it traversed Newtownards-road roused the fury of those in the immediate vicinity. About one o’clock this morning, in the neighbourhood of Dee-street, so alarming was the situation that the military were compelled to fire a volley. As a result James Mccartney, aged 19, was fatally wounded, and two women wore also struck by bullets. Some two hours later Alexander Hamilton was hit by a bullet during an exchange of shots between civilians and soldiers in Lord-street. Last night and to-day some forty persons were treated in hospitals for injuries received in baton charges and stone-throwing.
Shortly before three o’clock the fire brigade received a call to Middlepath-street. Two engines were despatched, and on arrival near the scene found the rival parties indulging in a pitched battle in the street. Stones and other missiles were being thrown, and one of the engines was held up between the contending parties, and for a few moments was subjected to a regular fusillade of stones. With difficulty the engine was got out of the crowd.
The stone-throwing was so fierce in this vicinity that soldiers had again to fire, and a machine-gun was mounted at Clonallon-street. The firing caused a stampede, but it restored order. Several persons were hit, and one man was said to have been killed, but no confirmation was obtainable.
ARMOURED CAR IN ACTION.
BELFAST, Later.
The campaign of incendiarism was resumed this evening. Shortly after six o’clock police were attacked in the Sinn Fein quarter of Ballymacarrett, and loyalist crowds retaliated on Sinn Feiners. The military were reinforced, and cleared a crowd out of Foundrystreet, while an armoured car came into action and fired up Seaforde-street, wounding five men, who were removed to hospital.
Fires broke out at various points, one in the heart of the disturbed area doing considerable damage. It began in an undertaker’s shop, the roof of which fell in while soldiers with fixed bayonets faced mobs on each side of them, one side being friendly and the other hostile. The numerous side streets were alive with men and women, and police made occasional charges, with batons, and machine-guns were placed in position.
During the Seaforde-street riot a large crowd of shipyard men appeared waving Union Jacks. The military were heartily cheered, as was a section of the fire brigade which appeared on the scene in response to a call to a fire.