HC Deb 05 November 1919 vol 120 cc1488-9
44. Mr. A. HENDERSON

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he was aware that a patriotic demonstration in Alexandria on the 24th October was repressed by rifles and machine guns; whether many unarmed people, including children, were victims; and whether he would give the House full information regarding the incident?

Mr. HARMSWORTH

I have nothing to add to my statement made on 30th October in reply to the hon. and gallant Member for Stafford, when I gave all the information in my possession, except that, of the 150 police employed on the 24th, forty-seven were injured, and that the number of troops then called out was fifty.

Captain ORMSBY-GORE

Cannot the hon. Gentleman contradict the statement in the question, and is it not a fact that so far from being a patriotic demonstration it was simply a hostile demonstration, in which stones were thrown at British officers and shops were looted in one of the public streets of Alexandria?

Mr. HARMSWORTH

My information, which is imperfect, accords, as far as it goes, with the information of my hon. Friend.