Just What Happened
As told by
Harry S. Sharma
in the Southern Express, dated November 17, 1970 to mark
the 125th Anniversary of the Municipality of San Fernando.
ARMED POLICEMEN
killed 12 and wounded 120 persons
in San Fernando.
That was on October 30, 1884.
And the incident is officilly recorded as the "Coolie Hosein Riots." But what happen then, may never happen again ..... for it was a different time and a different era. As our Prime Minister, Dr. Eric Williams puts it in his "History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago." Referring to the period he wrote:
And he recalled that "between 1881 and 1884 Carnival was in serious danger ofbeing stopped altogether by the police."
But while Cannes Brules, fore-runner to our Carnival ... escaped the bnn, the Hosein festival was not that lucky. And Dr. Williams wrote:
"It was in the same year, 1884, that serious disturbances in and around San Fernando in connection with the Hosein celebrations on October 30, 1884." And to this day, Hosein ... the annual festival to mark the death of Hassan and Hosein who were killed in battle ... is banned from the towns.
Thus in the village greens, and perhaps at St. James, Hosein celebrations will most likely continue to remain ... for the Muslims had long before openly disavowed its, if any, religious significance.
But what did really happen on October 30, 1884?
Then San Fernando had just recorded its 39th anniversary since it got local government powers andwas about to witness, like in previous years, the colourful Hosein celebrations that wended its way through the town in Carnival-like manner to the sea.
But they were disappointed.
The near 6,000 residents of San Fernando had sensed "trouble in the air"...they were scared and many locked themselves indoors as armed policemen and soldiers swarmed the streets of the town.
With heavy boots echoing, they marched to two pre-selected areas...Cipero and Toll Gate Corner and Mon Repos ... to await, with buckshot loaded rifles, the defiant Hosein revellers.
In the distance, hot tassas echoed its rhythmic beat and as the seconds ticked by, the drums sounded louder and louder until the shouts of "Hosein! Hosein! Hosein!" became quite distinct.
From two directions...the East and South...the revellers including men, women and children were approaching the town, carrying with them colourful massive temple-like effigies (tadjahs).
Often, they stopped but not to rest. Like grief striken relatives some even shed tears as they pounded their chests and cried:
"Hi, Hussan.....hi, Hosein"
To them the observance was meaningful...they had fasted and performed daily rituals, as they still do.
And thus, with the crowd swelling every inch of the way, they marched in wild excitement, to the pulsating beat of the drums.
In the mid-day sun, they sweated but went on, until before them stood a barricade of armed policemen and soldiers with bayonet fixed rifles.
The Riot Act was read out loud and clear...and they, the revellers were told to disperse, but defiantly they marched on.
At Cipero Street and Toll Gate Corner, Sergeant Samuel Mc Collins ..... a veteran soldier turn policeman ... with his squad of 13 policeman backed by Major Bowlers and 20 soldiers ordered: "Fire!"
Fourteen rounds went off
as bodies fell to the ground,
voices screamed
and men, women and children dashed for shelter.
At Mon Repos, the Police Chief himself....English born Captain A. W. Baker who had previously, unsuccessfully sought permission to arrest the ring leaders of the Hosein celebrations .... stood with 40 armed men. And Captain Baker, a veteran soldier himself who had seen service in Africa, ordered the marchers to stop....they didn't.
Captain Baker repeated his order, but still the revellers kept coming and then .... he shouted to his kneeling men,"Fire!"
Several revellers dropped to the ground
and the rest scampered in all directions.
Toll on both fronts: 9 dead on the spot.
Over 100 wounded.
Later, three more died.
Historicans claim that the shooting of the coolies had the sanction of the Governor Sir Sanford Freeling - after whom Freeling St. in San Fernando is named.
The buckshots that replaced the bullets had scored and the authorities were absolved of all blame in the affair by the then Governor of Jamaica, General Sir Henry Norman who was sent by the British Government as a Royal Commission to investigate what came to be known as the "Coolie Hosein Riots".
And for the future the Commissioner laid down:
And thus to this day, Hosein is banned from the towns, even though many still ask, "why?"