File 522/1922 Pt 1 'Persian Gulf: Bahrein affairs: Retirement of Shaikh Isa; Reforms' [‎194r] (402/804)

them, so I again wired on llth < traseertain 0 wWtf Ctl0n 1 '.' aS takin g to protect
ko reply was received that day. whether a gunboat could be spared.
walking about armed w^daggerrand^sticl ^ ", aS |' l "J et, ’ l, " t Najdis were still
were afraid to take from them Throuio ftn " 1Ch fidawis of the Shaika
effected. Pending definite news of a aunbott^T pr ° Ceedm 8 s n ° sin g Ia "rest was
in their houses and nf^-ain from onenW ’ 1 , ordered t h « Persians to remain
good ne efiect. the 0 a s Pr b 0 aChing “T"° f g^boatswasT^ivel^atS had^a
making efforts to get Suriea^ers 6 to lignfmemorial on Us beSftoSM Eas ? 8
When asked why none of the Shaiks would remonstrate with Qosaibi, let.alone
rrest him, he admitted that as Bin Sand’s Agent, they were afraid to deal with him.
I pointed out that although I decided cases in which foreigners were concerned the
arrest of persons responsible for, or inducing, breaches of the peace, was the duty of
the local Government. It was apparent that he wished me to order the arrest, thus
enabling the Shaik to excuse themselves to Bin Saud that it was done under
pressure from the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . In my opinion such action, since at that time there was
no gunboat, was best left alone. In an interview with Shaik Hamad the latter
expressed, in confidence, his opinion that Qosaibi had planned the outbreak and
had been preparing the Najdis for some days for it.
My own opinion is, that if he did not actually prepare the outbreak, his action
in regard to the watch episode which undoubtedly started the disturbance, was
equally culpable.
Statement of Mr. J. B. Mac^ie of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
On Thursday, 10th, when the fracas between the Najdis and Persians oc
curred, I was in my house next to the Customs. I heard a crowd of people rush
ing past and a lot of shouting ; one of the s/rvants told me that a row had'started
and the Persians were out to kill a Najdi. The servant himself was a Najdi. I
took no notice until the disturbance increased. On going to the window I saw
some 30 or 40 people running about coll, cting sticks and running off towards the
Customs House. For the moment the disturbance near my house died down but
shouting then began from the direction of the bazaar and in a minute or two the
d sturbance again increas 'd and a bedy of 50 or 60 people armed with lathis
a/>pear£d on the Customs pier. These were Arabs and they set about belabouring
Such Persian coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. as they could find. I saw them beat one man almost to
dtfath in the water in front of my house and another one on the Customs jetty.
Seeing this going on I went round to Yusuf Kanoo’s office to find out what was
mil> happening. I found the bazaar full of Arabs, shouting and carrying lathis.
Inside Yusuf Kanoo’s office was a Persian who had been badly knocked about,
a id who had, I was told, been rescued from the crowd by Yusuf Kanoo and bs
nephew Ahmed. There was a big crowd of Arabs outside the office of Qosaibi
and a dead Persian was lying at Qosaibi’s door. Qosaibi was nowhere to be seen.
I had just be gun to make enquiries as to w hat was happening and had been in
formed that the row began as the result of an altercation betwem Abdulla Qosaibi
and Mohamed Sherif arising out of the theft of a watch from Qosaibi which had
been found in the possession of a Persian. Having got thus far I noticed that
the crowd began to disperse as quickly as it could and saw the reason for this
sudden dispersal was the arrival of the Pohtical|Agent m his car and 6ter, on the
amvM of the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. guard the crowd dispersed entirely. I thm accompanied
the Political Am nt aiound the bazaar. In the bazaar we found two (had Persians
tile Political mg wlliIe on the Customs jetty and m boats tied up to the jetty
and one deed Ai , y ; i badly beaten about that their recovery
we found .two Persian " 7 h M 7 1 this disturbance, I only actually
appeared improbable, bfirougnout me ^ He was a Na j di . Ball
saw one man witU ueMm . i n the bazaar when the figkt was in progress.
^ we collected any lathis we saw.
MC194FP