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went to the Persian matem and after leaving it the crowd increased considerably, they then proceeded .
towards the Municipal building in the centre of the town. By this time a party of girl teachers from
the Government schools, in a bus, trailing a flag, had joined the demonstrators which was an occurrence
without precedent in Bahrain.
Somewhere an incident was alleged to have occurred, an Arab boy in the crowd was said to
have been struck by a stone thrown from a Jewish housetop. Different people in different places
alleged that they saw the stone thrown. After leaving the municipal building the procession passed
in front of the Jewish synagogue and here it halted in spite of the efforts of the police to move it on.
People in the crowd began throwing stones, they then broke into the building and started smashing
everything which they could lay hands on. The demonstration became a riot. Some of the Arabs
who were marching in the procession and the police who were with the procession tried to clear the
building. They were unable to do so. In addition to the men who were looting, a crowd of women
from the brothel area joined in the atlair. Finally, on the order of a police officer, the police loaded
their rifles and fired into the air. This action dispersed the crowd from the neighbourhood of the
synagogue and an adjacent house owned by Jews, which was being looted. The schoolboys and most
of the Arabs in the crowd disappeared rapidly leaving a mob of Persians, Baluchis and others who
split up into parties and forced their way into Jewish houses in and around the bazaar. Buildings
were ransacked, all immovable property was taken and doors, windows, even door frames and
wooden balconies, were tom down. Large pieces of furniture, refrigerators, cupboards etc., were
thrown down from upper stories or dragged into the street. Where Jews were found in the houses
they were driven into one room and in some cases they were beaten. The mob was more animated
with the desire to loot and destroy than with the desire to injure the Jews. Police were rushed to
various parts of the bazaar where houses were being looted but organisation was difficult as the houses
were scattered in narrow lanes over a wide area. The police used their rifle butts with good effect and
cleared the houses by throwing the rioters down the stairs. One large gang entered the Jews bazaar
and began breaking open the shops, they were rapidly dispersed by a party of police. About eighty
men were arrested, they were caught red handed, hundreds more could have been arrested but it was
not possible to release any of the police to take charge of more prisoners.
In many cases Arabs gave shelter to their Jewish neighbours or helped them to escape over the
roofs. Before the riot a number of Jews had assembled in houses near the police station where no
attempt was made to interfere with them. In the houses which were looted the inmates were in
almost every case old men, children and women. The rioters attempted to set fire to some of the
buildings but the fires were put out by the police. In some places the rioters shouted to the
neighbours that they were ordered by the Government to destroy the houses of the Jews. When the
cases were heard in court a number of persons testified to this effect.
The riot lasted for about an hour. Twelve houses were completely sacked, three shops were
looted and the synagogue was reduced to a condition resembling a building that had been bombed.
About forty Jews were taken into hospital but only twelve were detained there. One elderly Jewish
woman died as a result of the injuries which she had received.
The police, both officers and men, carried out their duties extremely well in this emergency.
If it had not been for their action the riot would have developed into a more serious affair. At times
groups of police had to act independently or under the orders of junior N. C. O.s and everywhere
they restored order without the use. of fire arms but by using fists and rifle butts. A conspicuous
feature of the incident was that although most of the local Arabs strongly disapproved of the incident
they took no active part, at the time, in preventing it, for the most part they retired to their closed
shops or houses or hung on the outer edge of the crowd.

REVIVAL OF THE PERSIAN CLAIM.
During the first half of 1367 the Persian Government once again revived its old claim to the
ownership of Bahrain. The last time this claim was heard of was in 1928-29 when copies of a letter
on the subject were distributed to the States members of the League of Nations at Geneva.