14/6/1919 Race riots in Cardiff

Some demobilised British soldiers have struggled to find suitable employment on their return home. In coastal cities this has led to resentment against members of various ethnic minorities, seen by some of the disaffected veterans as having taken jobs that are rightfully theirs. Race riots have already erupted in Glasgow, Liverpool and London, with white British men attacking those of darker skin. Earlier this month this unsavoury racist violence spread to Wales, with Black, Asian and Arab residents attacked by rioters in Newport and Barry.

The worst of the violence erupted three days ago in Cardiff and is only subsiding now. The trouble may have begun when a white mob was incensed at the sight of black men and white women travelling together in a car. Others suggest the spark that ignited the violence was a young white man dying in hospital after reporting that a black man had slit…