It began with an observation of events in mid-February:. Suva is practically under martial law. There is no one left in the large stores but the owners and a girl or two.
Business has practically stopped. Everybody is a special constable. There is a mild excitement in the air and nervous people shut their doors at nightβ¦. The end of indenture had engendered a sense of optimism and hope among Indian workers that life could get better. On 15 January, workers at the Public Works Department in Suva initiated the strike, after they were informed that their working hours would be increased from 45 to 48 hours a week.
Over four thousand workers in Navua, where another major sugar mill was located, also joined the strike, at a time when the population of Fiji was approximately , Domestic servants and shop workers for European merchants who refused to join the strike were threatened and humiliated. One episode during the strike saw hundreds of Indians riot in Suva when a notoriously racist European hotel-owner beat his Indian servant and abused Indians passing by.
The colonial administration used this anti-European sentiment, growing calls for equality for Indians and the role of Indian political organisations in the strike as proof that the strike was political and not really concerned with wages. The authorities mobilised to crush the strike, concerned that Indian agitation could rouse sympathy and discontent among native Fijians β thus threatening the entire colonial project.
The administration requested military aid from the Australian government, who dispatched a warship. A naval ship from New Zealand was delayed when waterside workers refused to load a ship in solidarity with the strikers in Fiji. The strikers defended themselves with sticks and stones, and sabotaged roads and telephone lines. One worker was killed after police ambushed a group heading into Suva to procure supplies.
