DETROIT RIOTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 58, 9 March 1932, Page 7

DETROIT RIOTING.

Police Draw Revolvers in Clash

In Dearborn City.

SERIOUS LABOUR TROUBLE

NEW YORK, March 8

The Detroit correspondent of the "New York Times" states that probably the most serious labour trouble Mr. Henry Ford has ever encountered occurred yesterday.

Three thousand unemployed, under Communist supervision and instigation, marched to the main Ford plant at Dearborn City, six' miles away, and engaged in a serious clash with the police, in which four of the marchers were killed and at least 50, including about 15 policemen, were injured. Many were hurt seriously enough to require hospital treatment.

The ostensible object of the unemployed was to present a petition demanding employment. This, they allege, they never had a chance to present.

The riot came as a great surprise to the general public, inasmuch as Mr. Ford recently announced that ho would soon employ thousands of hands to carry out a policy of increased production. However, a serious unemployment situation at Detroit, coincident with the severe depression in the motor industry, has been in efi'cct for some time.

The recent curtailment of municipal relief produced unrest and this apparently was partially responsible for the demonstration. It is reported that the plans for the march had been formulated several weeks and. came to a head at a Communist rally, where William Foster, several times Communist candidate for the Presidency, delivered an inflammatory speech.

Pistols v. Clubs and Bricks. The rushes of the unemployed were several times checked by deluges of cold water from hoses, operated by firemen at the gates. A squad of police reinforcements blocked the way. One policeman fired a revolver and a general melee started.

The marchers used clubs and bricks and the police fired their revolvers, injuring many of the attackers in the legs. Tl?e demonstrators then attempted to commandeer cars to remove the injured.

They stoned a motorist who refused to give up his car.

The riot was quelled after the arrival of more than 100 Detroit police, also State police. On clearing the area it was revealeo. that the pavements were stained with blood and the streets littered with broken glass and the wreckage of bullet-riddled cars.

The police' arrested five men who are alleged to have instigated the riot.

POLAR COMMERCE.

BYRD'S NEXT EXPEDITION.

NEW YORK, March 8.

The correspondent of the Associated Press at Cincinnati states that RearAdmiral Byrd intends to return to the Antarctic to determine the commercial possibilities of the Polar regions he has claimed for the United States.

The ■ explorer will establish his base 500 miles south of Little America. He hopes to drive through the vicinity of the Pole itself before he pitches his camp. '