Aftermath Of The "Sergeants Affair": Anti-Jewish Riots Across British Cities | August 1947

Early August 1947.
Footage of the aftermath of rioting across British cities which followed the discovery of the bodies of two soldiers of the British Army Intelligence Corps in Netanya, Palestine where Britain had a Mandate.
Sergeant Clifford Martin and Sergeant Mervyn Paice were both kidnapped on July 12th 1947 and held as hostage pending the execution of three members of the Zionist terror gangs, the Irgun by the British authorities.
The hanged Irgun members had been captured after engineering the escape of Irgun and Stern gang members for Acre Prison, tried and then convicted of illegal possession of arms, and with "intent to kill or cause other harm to a large number of people".
When the three Irgun men were executed on July 29th, Irgun hanged Paice and Martin and left their booby-trapped bodies hanging from trees in a eucalyptus grove near the town of Netanya.Their already darkened and bloodied bodies were mutilated by the detonating of the hidden incendiaries.
After news of the murders was received, British troops and policemen rioted in Tel Aviv, killing five Jews and injuring others. The deaths of the sergeants also sparked off anti-Jewish rioting in some British cities including Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Disturbances also took place in Warrington, Bristol, Hull and London.
Many Jewish owned business were targeted. Shop owner began putting signs up with messages such as “Hold your fire. These premises are British” and "This shop is entirely British". Garafitti appeared on Jewish shops and synagogues including "Death To All Jews" and some belligerents walked around with placards bearing words such as "Hang All Jews".
In a twist to the incident which had provoked the riot, years later researchers found that one of the Sergeants was Jewish accoring to Halachic Law. Sergeant Martin's mother came from an Egyptian Jewish family.
Newsreel: Reuters News Archive.