POLITICAL FEELING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 267, 9 October 1933, Page 7

POLITICAL FEELING.

SCENES AT TRALEE GENERAL O’DUFFY STRUCK. LONDON, Oct. 7. The military arrived at the Tralee riot scenes in lorries, carrying gas masks, and were given a fiercely hostile reception, but fixing bayonets they soon imposed • some sort of order, though half-hearted attempts were made to stone them. General O’Duffy and Mr Cronin left escorted by soldiers with fixed bayonts. The leader of the I.R.A. parade, during the commotion, appealed for order. General O’ Duffy’s car, which was only recently purchased, was burned. General O’Duffy, who is spending the night at Killarney, told a Central News correspondent that he was struck five times on the head by a man with a hammer. He believed the Irish Republican Army had nothing to do with the attack. It was organised by the Fianna Fail, and it was obviously planned. The advance mob held the Tralee police practically powerless. Speaking of the riots, General O’Duffy said: “I was left completely at the mercy of the mob by the police. Twenty men entered the street. One, a depraved-looking creature with a hammer in his hand, walked up and struck mo on the head from behind. I can identify him, as can my associates. I w r as struck a second time. The Civic Guards did not arrest or interfere with the man. I saw nothing of the military. The attack was obviously premeditated to prevent a lawful meeting of a political party. The Government seized my revolver; I am unarmed, but am now taking steps to protect myself- I prefer a military tribunal sentence to assassination.” The disorder continued long after General O’Duffy’s departure, angry crowds parading Tralee. There were occasional shuts, but the climax came in the early hours, when rifles, revolvers, and machine-guns were used for ten minutes against the police.barracks, where the crowd believed General O’Duffy was hidden. The events are arousing great concern owing to the intensity of political feeling. Stone-throwers, shouting “We want O’Duffy, dead or alive,” were dispersed by military tear gas bombs. PRECAUTIONS TAKEN. TROOPS AND POLICE. Received October 9, 8.10 aim. LONDON, Oct. 8. The Sunday Graphic says that 1000 troops in battle order and police have been drafted to Castlebar to prevent attacks on General O’Duffy at the Blueshirts’ meeting to-day at Belfast. The Government banned the march of 60 Free State unemployed from Dublin to Belfast, declaring that it was likely to provoke disorders.