CO129-609-5 Future policy- Press accounts of Chinese unrest over Kowloon evictions 19-1-1948 - 16-3-1948 — Page 69

Soong Pledges Step to Protect Foreign Lives

Promises Military Action After Anti-British Riots In Canton and Shanghai

By the Associated Press

HONGKONG, Jan. 17.-Chinese Premier IV Soong said today his government would take prompt mili- tary action to protect foreign lives in China but that the out- breaks of the last two days had grown to the extent that the Chinese Foreign Office is taking up the matter with Britain through diplo- matic channels.

Mr. Soong's statement followed the second serious riot in two days against British diplomatic build- ings in China as an estimated mob of 10,000, shouting "Down with Britain," attempted to storm the heavily-guarded British Consulate at Shanghai. They were driven back by police with clubs.

Agitators repeatedly urged the throng to break in, and a truck was used as a battering ram in a vain bid to smash down the gates. Posters carried by the mob de- manded: "British, get out of Kow- loon." The riots are a sequel to Hongkong police eviction of Chinese from shacks in Kowloon, "walled city" adjoining Hongkong.

Canton Refugees Arrive Meanwhile, British refugees from Canton, six of whom were injured in violent anti-British riots and incendiarism yesterday, were brought by plane to Hongkong today. The British Consul-Gen- eral at Canton, Ronald Hall, was pursued by the rioters, but was saved by the intercession of a Chinese journalist.

C. V. Čurtis, a British business man, said he was lucky to escape alive from Canton. "I was knocked about and receved a number of injuries," he told an interviewer. Chinese used fists, stones and sticks to attack Britons, he added.

In his statement. Premier Soong asserted that Communists were responsible for the agitation. Brit- ish Embassy officials at Nanking are reported highly skeptical of this. This source stated that the embassy still awaits an official ver- sion of the incidents from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

N.Y. HERNED TRIBUNE

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