WATERFRONT RIOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 159, 8 July 1935, Page 9

WATERFRONT RIOT.

STRIKERS AND POLICE.

TROUBLE AT VANCOUVER. EFFECTIVE TEAR GAS. A day before the Union liner Aorangi left Vancouver for New Zealand on June 19 serious rioting broke , out on the waterfront. A brief account of the trouble was received by cable at the time of the outbreak, but newspapers brought to Auckland by the Aorangi yesterday give details of numerous clashes which occurred between the rioters and the police. "Tear gas and police clubs broke up a demonstration of longshoremen and their sympathisers, nearly 1000 in all, when they marched on Ballantyne Pier this afternoon," states one Vancouver newspaper of June 18. "There was a general melee, with a number of individual fights and some hurling of rocks. There were no serious injuries, however, the strikers falling back after the police had tossed a number of tear gas bombs into their ranks. "The marchers approached Ballantyne Pier along Heatley Avenue carrying a Union Jack at their head. Some of them wore medals. Colonel W. W. Foster, chief of the city police, met the parade at the south side of the railway tracks and warned the leaders not to attempt to proceed. The marchers brushed past the chief, however, without stopping to listen and advanced on the solid ranks of tne Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial police and city police officers who guarded the actual entrance to the pier.

"When the paraders reached the police a general melee broke out, with the officers swinging their batons freely. Several officers were dismounted and their horses ran wild when the tear gas began to take effect. Beaten With Own Club. "One of the mounted policemen fell as his horse slipped. Immediately a striker jumped on him, grabbing his own club and beating him with it. Three police officers who were injured in the fight were removed to the General Hospital. One of the more serious casualties was Constable S. Dixon of'the city pplice, who was dragged from his car on Heatley Avenue and attacked by a number of strikers. He was badly beaten and was removed to the hospital. The police car was wrecked by stones hurled by the strikers. A number of others were injured in the melee, several of. the policemen suffering gashes from rocks and fists. After the attack was repulsed, scattered fighting extended oveY, several blocks area. "Hundreds of spectators who had gathered at the pier entrance added to the confusion by deciding it was a good place to leave in a hurry. They also fled along the railway track, trying in many cases to climb the high picket fence. The wholfe area was swept by tear gas as the three or four bombs released 1%- the police took effect. This was the final straw, and before two o'clock the police had conducted a general mopping-iip and had reformed their lines at the entrance." New Union Formed. The rioting followed shortly after the arrest of Ivan Emory, president of the Longshoremen and Water Transport Workers of Canada, in the office of his lawyer. He was charged' with inciting to riot, following a : speech he delivered; at a mass meeting of workers on the; previous Sunday. Although the Aorangi was berthed at the Ballantyne Pier her loading was not delayed by the strike. The cargo was handled by members of a newly formed union who declined to strike. Full precautions were taken against an attack on the men working the cargo, the gates of the wharf being heavily guarded and launches patrolling the waterfront. It was stated r ye'sterday that the crew of the Aorangii subscribed 600 dollars to the strike fund.