POLICE AND NATIONAL GUARDSMEN IN STREET; SHOOTING EXCHANGE -- NATURAL SOUND; WOUNDED IN HOSPITAL; STREET PATROLS; FIRES.




Initials DHC-N-SAT-TELE-MR/BB



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Background: NATIONAL GUARDSMEN CARRYING AUTOMATIC RIFLES WERE TODAY (WEDNESDAY) PATROLLING THE STREETS OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, AFTER A PITCHED GUN BATTLE BETWEEN POLICE AND BLACK NATIONALIST SNIPERS IN WHICH 10 PEOPLE DIED AND 18 WERE WOUNDED.

EXTENSIVE FIRES BROKE OUT LAST NIGHT, SHORTLY AFTER THE SHOOTING MATCH STARTED. A SUPERMARKET WAS BURNED TO THE GROUND AND STORES ALONG A TWO-MILE (THREE KILOMETRE) STRETCH WERE SET ABLAZE WITH PETROL BOMBS.

POLICE HAVE ARRESTED 48 PEOPLE, INCLUDING LOCAL BLACK NATIONALIST LEADER FRED AHMED EVANS. EVANS IS ALLEGED TO HAVE SAID THAT HE AND 17 OTHERS STARTED THE GUNPLAY BECAUSE "POLICE HAVE BOTHERED US TOO LONG".

CLEVELAND'S NEGRO MAYOR, CARL B. STOKES, MET LOCAL OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS THE TENSE SITUATION, CLEVELAND IS THE LARGEST CITY IN OHIO, WITH MORE THAN 800,000 PEOPLE, 300,000 OF WHOM ARE NEGRO.

THE TROUBLE BEGAN WHEN A POLICE BREAKDOWN TRUCK ARRIVED TO HAUL AWAY A CAR ABANDONED OUTSIDE AN APARTMENT BUILDING. SEVERAL SHOTS RANG OUT AND THE TRUCK CREW FOUND THEMSELVES CAUGHT IN A CROSSFIRE. DOZENS OF ARMED POLICE RUSHED TO THE SCENE, AND THE FIGHTING CARRIED ON FROM THERE.

FIREMEN RESPONDING TO ALARM CALLS WERE ALSO SHOT AT BY SNIPERS.