PRO-SOVIET SPEAKER IN MELBOURNE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25738, 25 February 1949, Page 7

PRO-SOVIET SPEAKER IN MELBOURNE

BIG CROWD GATHERED AT TOWN HALL (Bee. 7 p.m. MELBOURNE, Feb, 24. Police reinforcements were rushed to the Melbourne Town Hall when it was reported that 4000 people were crowding the footpath and interrupting traffic. The crowd, however, proved orderly, and» no police action was necessary beyond shepherding the people off the road. Overhead the voice of Mr John Rodgers. director of Australia-Soviet House, could be heard bitterly condemning the City Council for closing the doors of the Town Hall to him while opening therp to “detractors of Russia.” He ended a five-minute speech by inviting the crowd to hear his address on Russia in the Unitarian Church. About half the crowd accepted the invitation. Mr Rodgers was not near the Town Hall at the time. He had recorded the speech, which was played through amplifiers placed on the rpof of the Melbourne “Age” building without permission of the proprietors of the building. As executives reached the roof they saw the amplifying gear being hauled back through a window into a neighbouring building. Last week the City Council cancelled the booking of the Melbourne Town Hall for an address by Mr Rodgers. An application for an injunction restraining the council from enforcing the cancellation was refused by Mr Justice Martin in the Supreme Court. Mr Rodgers'then announced that he would speak “outside the Town Hall,” and this attracted the crowd.