Riots all over England.

In the aftermath of the sinking of the Lusitania, anti-German feeling ran at an all time high. This report published in the New York Times on the 12th May 1915, covers the riots that took place in the East End of London, these were typical of the action taking place all over Britain.

It is laced with humour, the part ‘Loaves of bread, cream cakes and jam rolls came flying out and many of these sticky souvenirs followed the police to the station,’ conjures up a scene.

But it is a frightening picture painted, one of repressed anger spilling over against random targets based upon the association of a ‘German’ surname.


Riots all over England

Special Cable to The New York Times.

London, Wednesday, May 12 – Widespread disturbances occurred in the East End last night as a result of public anger caused by the Lusitania crime. They took form of demonstrations against German shopkeepers and in certain districts it seemed there was hardly a shop which bore above its windows a name suspected of Teutonic origin that escaped unscathed.

Large and boisterous crowds collected in Poular and Limehouse and overran these houses and shops. They smashed every bit of glass and furniture, chased suspected aliens as terrier chase rabbits and injured several policemen who tried to stem their progress. Poplar has seen many lively nights but few which exceeded this in excitement.

The trouble began in earnest in Blair Street and North Street minor thoroughfares of East India Road, when children came out of school. They began collecting and jeering outside various shops. One shop in Blair Street owned by a man named Katstergger came in for early attention and soon there were stones flying about briskly.

Boys Scouts in Action.

Then a detachment of boy scouts came unofficially into action for the first time in their history. Shop windows were soon smashed with bricks and scout poles, and the first two casualties were slight wounds on their heads suffered by two lads who were in the thick of the fray. One boy was hurt with flying glass and it was alleged that a chopper was thrown at the other by a woman who lived in the house.

It is certain that the women bolted out of the shop and ran to an adjacent house chased by an angry crowd, made up mostly of boys and women. She got in safely but a shower of bricks followed her through the windows.

Meanwhile the crowds had rapidly increased in size. This particular store was a confectioner’s. It has been entered, and all the fittings had been torn away. The contents were thrown into the street and the whole place was completely stripped of movables.

There was an affray at the Upper North Street in Poplar, where an angry crowd attacked the shop of a man named Kessler. First came a hail of stones and bricks with an overture of hoots and catcalls. When the glass had been scattered on the pavement a rush was made for the interior.

Four policemen stood on the pavement and tried to force the crowd back. They at length arrested one man who seemed to be particularly aggressive and tapped him briskly over the head to stop his resistance. A constable attempted to march him off. This made the crowd thoroughly angry.

Woman Attacks Policemen.

“You call yourself an Englishmen,” cried one brawly wife. “Why, you’re a ‘un youself,” and with that she threw her whole considerable weight at the officer and attacked him with Amazonian ferocity.

His colleagues who went to his rescue were quickly overpowered and all of them were rather badly handled. Three of them were taken to a police station in East India Road, where they were treated by a divisional surgeon. Two had some cuts on the head and one was treated for a bad kick in the abdomen.

With Kessler’s house unprotected the crowd became very busy. Women, men and of course, boys swarmed over one another through the premises. Loaves of bread, cream cakes and jam rolls came flying out and many of these sticky souvenirs followed the police to the station. Afterward furniture was carried out into the streets, not only chairs and tables, but sofas and a piano, with carpets, pictures and much crockery. One lad in smashing an electric light globe received a bad shock which put him out of action for several minutes.

This scene was repeated time and again throughout the district. Crowds in other places failed to appreciate the phonetic differences between the patronymics of Jews and Germans.

Victims of Unjust Attacks.

An aftermath of anti-German rioting in Liverpool which was renewed only to a minor extent yesterday revelas a pathetic side of the outbreak. Several of the victims of the attack and suspicion are now advertising, offering rewards from five to a hundred pounds to any one who can disprove their claims to British or friendly nationality.

One tradesman, who had three shops attacked, declares he was born in Liverpool and denied and foreign descent or extraction. Another reveals himself as a naturalized Russian, with an English born wife, while in a third case a woman who had been subjected to annoyance pleads that she is an Irishwoman and the widow of an Italian.