The massacre of Indians in the 1884 Hosay
On October 30, 1884, 22 Indians were killed and over 100 were injured in a hail of police bullets fired at a Hosay procession in San Fernando, Trinidad. The nation was stunned in disbelief. This tragedy is described by historian Dr. Kelvin Singh as the bloodiest event of British rule in colonial Trinidad. In the wake of industrial strikes in Trinidad in the 1880s, the colonial authorities had set about to prevent the continuance of Hosay/Muharram as a grand, island-wide multi-racial procession led by Indians. The latest petition restricting the staging of Hosay was met with dismay and indignation. Armed with courage and determination, indentured Indian celebrants ignored the ban and took to the streets in their annual religious procession. Their resistance was met with batons and bullets from British soldiers and marines.