Red Army Recruits Attempt Anti-jewish Riot in Streets of Mohilev

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Sixty recruits in the Red Army, mainly Communist youths and drunken railway workers from the city Velikoluki, arriving in Mohilev to report for military service, attempted an anti-Jewish riot in the streets of Mohilev, according to a report in the “Comsomolskaya Pravda,” Communist youth organ. The rioters terrorized the Jewish storekeepers, destroyed merchandise and broke the windows of the stores. They threw Jewish passengers off the street cars.

They stormed the worker’s club and attacked their own Jewish comrades. Later, they used violence against the military authorities and proceeded to the railway station where they attempted to unarm the Ogpu officials and the railway militia. They threw stones breaking the windows of the railway trains.

The cavalry was called out to stop the rioters. They surrounded the hooligans and arrested several who were sentenced to six months imprisonment.

The affair was kept secret by the local paper and party circles until the “Comsomolskaya Pravda” unearthed the details by a special investigator sent to Mohilev. A retrial of the rioters is now demanded by the Communist organ, which also asks that the editor of the local paper be tried for withholding the facts. The “Comsomolskaya Pravda” also demands that the Mohilev and Velikoluki Communist party organizations be re-organized.