“Despite the long period of peaceful integration, the Arab community has passed through some difficult and hostile times in the town, especially in the beginning. Although many made them feel welcome, some South Tyneside’s treated the immigrants with fear and suspicion. This led to the Yemeni sailors becoming embroiled in two violent disputes, one in 1919 and one in 1930.”¹

© The Sunday Sun front page with thanks to The Chronicle ²
“Fierce Riot At Shields 
Policeman Stabbed in Battle with Arabs 
27 Arrests 
Four “minority” leaders among them”

In this section we further exam the causes and consequences of the two riots which occurred in the Mill Dam area of South Shields. Often coined as ‘race riots’, or even more misleadingly, the ‘Arab riots’, as is often the case, the events were more complicated than their titles suggest. Interwar depression, a failing economy, racial tensions,

We will also consider the angle used in the reporting. For instance, the framing of the headlines, the number of Arabs prosecuted vs white rioters and the fact that all surviving photographs witness only the Arabs in handcuffs, police control or the dock.

1. Youssef Nabil, Gharavi, T., Hebden, P. and Kipling M. (2013). Last of the dictionary men : stories from the South Shields Yemeni sailors. London: Gilgamesh Publishing p 30..
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2. The Newcastle Chronicle ↩︎