POLICE PROTECT MR HOLLAND

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26514, 31 August 1951, Page 8

POLICE PROTECT MR HOLLAND

Unruly Scene After Meeting

DEMONSTRATORS RUSH CAR (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 30. Fifty uniformed police struggled to clear a way for the Prime Minister (Mr Holland) when he drove away in his car after giving his election address at the St. James’ Theatre, Wellington, to-night. Jamming the street was a crowd of more than 2000 that brought all traffic to a standstill and pressed inwards toward the Prime Minister’s car as soon as it came into view from the lane beside the theatre. Then ensued the most unruly 30 seconds Wellington has known for many years. Shoulder to shoulder, the police, who had been standing in two ranks forming a bodyguard, matched themselves against the more demonstrative elements in the crowd, and kept the passage clear. As the Prime Minister’s car accelerated and travelled off in the direction of Courtenay place boos that had been going on all the time rose to a roar, but as. this hubbub died away there came in the sound of voices singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” For a few moments it seemed that the demonstrators would break through the police cordon in their effort to reach the Prime Minister’s car, and for these fleeting seconds the scene in the middle of the road was reminiscent of a free-for-all.

The crowd gathered quickly. For the greater part of the Prime Minister’s meeting rowdy demonstrators made their presence obvious outside the theatre, but in the main they succeeded only in amusing a few hundred electors who had been crowded out of the theatre through being late. A few minutes before 10 o’clock the number of demonstrators began to thicken. A few minutes later the main doors of the theatre were opened to allow the audience to leave. Police who had been stationed round the building and •in the roadway then formed up face to face and shoulder-to-shoulder in two ranks, clearing a passage in the crowd along which the Prime Minister’s car could pass. This move by the police caused an outburst of booing and cries of ‘‘Fascist State.” The section of the crowd that had been making the most noise moved in on the police, ranging up behind them in a tightly-packed mass. Ranks of demonstrators nearest the police held their hands aloft in mock Fascist salute, and gave a lead to others behind them in jeering and booing. Cries of “Holland’s Fascists” and “Three cheers for Walter” were heard in the rise and fall of the booing that went on.

The crowd had grown from a few hundred to more than 2000 in the few minutes that had now passed. Many present were taking no part in the demonstration, but stationed themselves on the footpaths merely as onlookers at a spectacle that Wellington has seldom seen.

Suddenly the booing ceased. Mr Holland evidently was not putting in his appearance as quickly as the unruly ones had expected. Their cry was then taken up on another note. A chorus of many hundreds raucously began to call for nim with the cry, "We want Sid. We want Sid.” As this element paused for breath Mr Holland’s. supporters sang a few quick bars of "For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” For 10 minutes this went on.

Then Mr Holland’s car came into view. The ranks of the police were drawn as close as possible to protect the car and keep the crowd back The demonstrators in the middle of the crowd rushed in violently, but did not break through the police cordon. In the general melee arms were waving and several clenched fists were conspicuous.

y as - a , bn ? f struggle, and the ugliest efforts of the rowdiest of the demonstrators to reach the Prime Min--I E. r s ,? ar appeared tj be winning when the car stopped in making the turn down Manners street towards Courtenay place. But it was only a second before the car was on its way again.

noi S e . J a J ld excitement then quickly subsided, and order was restored.

The demonstration made at 10 o’clock was the culmination to a series of minor disturbances that had gone on sporadically outside the theatre during the whole of the Prime Minister’s address. In the early part of the cven-

ing a group repeatedly called on the crowd to “Come along and listen to Nordmeyer.” They distributed pamphlets among the crowd, some being accepted, some refused. The demonstrators moved away, saying they would be back again at 10 o’clock. Some came back before that hour, and one man was taken away by the police in a police vehicle.