The following year, the Governor found himself dealing with a series of communal riots that in August 1921 broke out in the Malabar District. Following a number of cases of arson, looting, and assaults, Willingdon declared martial law just before the government of India sent in a large force to quell the riots. At around the same time, over 10,000 workers in the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills of Madras city organised for six months a general strike contemporaneous with the non-cooperation movement, which also sparked riots between pro- and anti-strike workers that were again only put down with police intervention.