Major events of this
period
(Part I)
The Straits Times, May 17, 1955Goode tells Assembly of the events leading to the riots:
Prolonged fiery speeches at bus depot whipped up hatred towards the policeThe Chief Secretary, Mr WAC Goode, yesterday gave the Legislative Assembly a diary of the events leading up to the rioting in Singapore last Thursday and an official version of the riot itself.
Apr 25 and 26 Srtikers of the Hock Lee Amalgamated Bus Company attempted to stop the buses from leaving the depot by sitting on the ground, completely blocking the main gate with a human barrier.
The management of the company appealed to the police to obtain their right of free passage in and out of the depot.
On both mornings, the arrival of strong police formations persuaded the strikers to give up their attempt to stop the buses and no force was necessary.
Apr 27 About 150 strikers again formed a human barrier in front of the main gate. The police asked them to move and gave them repeated warnings that they were going against the law by physiaclly preventing freedom of movement to the buses. But they did not move.
A squad from the police Reserve Unit was then asked to move the strikers away from the gate.
"This they succeeded in doing quickly and efficiently, without any undue force being used and the buses were able to move unmolested," Mr Goode said.
Stones were thrown at the police during this operation.
Mr Goode continued: "Many of the strikers, who had been manhandled away from the gate, feigned injury and two of them lay on the ground near the gate, being tended to by friends and complaining that they were seriously hurt."
An ambulance was immediately called but the "injured" men could not be found when the ambulance arrived.
Throughout the rest of the day, Mr Goode said, there were large congregations of strikers, sympathisers and students outside the depot.
Apr 28 to May 9 Indignation meetings, supported by large groups of students and addressed continuously by agitators through loud-speakers, continued for several days and were deliberately designed to whip up hatred and hostility towards the police force as a whole.
"Throughout this period of growing tension," Mr Goode said, "the police did everything in their power to prevent any incident occurring which might provoke a clash and thereby nullify the great efforts being made by the Chief Minister and the Minister for Labour to reach a settlement by negotiation."
The two weeks of negotiation broke down and the police were ordered to by the Government to take such action as was necessary to ensure the right of passage of buses where the company was prepared to operate.
May 10 The strikers again resorted to their manoeuvre of forming a human barrier in front of the gate. The Commissioner of Police himself, accompanied by two magistrates, exhausted all means of peacefully persuading them to move.
The magistrate ordered the police to disperse the strikers as they were an unlawful assembly. The Commissioner of Police dispersed them by means of hoses from trailer pumps.
The buses were then able to resume service to the public. Then persons complained of injuries in this police operation, and eight of them were carried into ambulances on stretchers.
These stretcher cases were treated in the hospital. The medical report, received two hours later, stated that except for one man, who was suffering from mild concussion, the remainder had no apparent injuries.
The extremists, Mr Goode said, used the stretcher cases as propaganda to fan further hatred against the police.
May 11 Although the strikers got into position again to block the gate, they changed their minds when the police arrived. The buses were able to come out.
There was a further 24 hours of more meetings outside the depot, addressed by agitators condemning the police and threatening concerted action by all labour if the police should again interfere.
This succeeded in stiffening the morale of the strikers.
The strikers again tried to stop the buses from coming out. Once again, the efforts of senior police officers and magistrates failed to persuade them to obey the law and once more the police were ordered by the magistrate to disperse them by force.
They were again dispersed with water, but on this occasion the crowd gathered around and bricks and stones were hurled at the police.
One police officer was injured in the face and others received minor injuries. The buses came out but three of them were damaged by stones hurled by the crowd and had to return.
Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.
Next: The Black Day