RIOTOUS SCENES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1928, Page 7

RIOTOUS SCENES.

Stones, Sticks and Beer Mugs In

Berlin.

ELECTION HOSTILITIES.

(Australian and N.Z. Press Association.)

BERLIN, May 20.

One man was killed and many others were injured as a result of an election fight between National Socialists and Fascists, in the course of which stones, sticks. and beer mugs were used as weapons. The police were temporarily powerless. It is strange that this should have occurred on the eve of the poll after a campaign which was unprecedentedly quiet. Some experts express the opinion that only 50 per cent of the electors will vote to-day. There are 31 parties and 4500 candidates, of whom 400 are women. Nobody expects a transference of votes' sufficient materially to alter the political situation. It is certain that no party will have a majority, and more coalitions are inevitable.

In any case, a continuation of Herr Stresemann's policy is regarded as assured. There has been no whisper of Kaiserism. A novel experiment is being tried in Berlin, where distinctive voting papers are being issued to men and women so that it may be Been in what proportion the sexes vote. ROYAL DEMOCRAT. Kaiser's Son Sees His Father's Errors. HOLDING ALOOF FROM MASSES (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) BERLIN, May 20.

It is estimated that 80 per cent voted in Beilin and that the polling was heavv elsewhere. The earliest returns indicate that the Socialists and Communists have strengthened their hold in Berlin proper. Potsdam is firmly Nationalist. There were 100 arrests.

There was a sensation at Potsdain. where the ex-Kaiser's fourth son appeared on a platform to speak on behalf of the Labour party. He assured the audience of his own Democratic principles and added that the dynasty to which he belonged made a fatal mistake by holding aloof from the masses. Has his father not committed this blunder he might still have been ruling.

It is interesting to note that 2,000,000 new voters have sprung up since the 1924 elections, with no knowledge of the pre-war Germany and being able to contrast Republican with monarchial conditions.