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Background: After a long and uneasy lull in Cyprus, mob violence broke out again on January 27 when a Turkish mob attacked British troops and police in one of the worst riots that Nicosia has known.

A turk died in the first wave of riots and when the skirmishing had ended, the depth roll had risen to six - many of these having died as a result of British troops having to fire at the rioters to stop them from doing more damage.

Nearly 100 other people were taken to hospital, three police cars were overturned and set on fire, and one of the largest garages in the city was burned to the ground by the rioters.

Later in the day a Greek tobacco factory was set on fire and badly damaged.

Even after a curfew had been ordered in their part of the city, the Turks continued to battle with troops and police. Those who got outside the walled city remained a menace, stoning military police, fire and hospital vehicles.

Tear gas was used everywhere and when a Land Rover approached Ataturk Square a huge mob surrounded it banging it with sticks and throwing stones. An eight inch hole was smashed in the windscreen and the Land Rover had to drive at a high speed through the crowd to get away.

Claiming that two people had been injured, the crowd became a yelling mob and disorder was complete. From every side, rioters hurled a rain of stones into Ataturk Square and for a time the police and troops were pinned into a building which houses the Law Courts and Kyrenia Gate police station.

The men of the 43rd Light AA Regiment, Royal Artillery, went out with steel helmets and riot shields. For nearly an hour they fought pitched battles at each side street, using tear gas against rocks and boulders.

One of the cars damaged in the rioting was the Ford used by the BBC cameraman.

Later in the week, after the incident-free funeral of the Turks, came a warning from the governor of the possibility of further terrorism from the Greek Cypriot movements.