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infiltrated ‘by Egyptian propagandists’ and had become ‘a hotbed of anti-British

sentiment’. She criticised the assurances made by British officials in Bahrain that

disturbances similar to the ones witnessed in March would not be allowed to occur

again. The earliest attack P Thomas recalled was when a stone was thrown at her

apartment’s window. Although the police were contacted it was of no use as further

windows were broken and a mob of demonstrators gathered outside the apartment

building which was occupied by some fifteen Europeans, including seven children

and six women. During the riot one apartment was completely burnt out. After

further calls to the police an anti-riot squad finally arrived and dispersed the mob

with tear gas. P Thomas and others were carried away in a RAF truck to safety at

the air force’s base. She was later informed that, following the police’s departure,

the apartments were looted by the mob and then set on fire. P Thomas claimed that

she and her husband, as a result, had lost all their possessions. 838

On the regional scale the UN’s General Assembly issued a resolution in which

it called on Israel and Egypt to accept a ceasefire. It additionally urged other states

involved in the war to bring military activities to an end. 839 On the morning of 3

November a number of representatives from various British-owned businesses

complained to the Agency about the local authority’s lack of capability in protecting

their businesses. In the early hours of 3 November it seemed that disturbances had

decreased on the streets. However violence quickly returned later in the day. An

attempt was made to burn the Bahrain Slipway Company and the Public Works

838 TNA, FO 371/120549, M.L. Cahill at Buckingham Palace to FO, 22 November 1956.
839 ‘Resolution of the General Assembly of 2 November 1956’, in Documents on International Affairs
1956, ed. N. Frankland, (London: 1959), 270-71.

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