Five Arrests After Disturbance

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30895, 30 October 1965, Page 16

Five Arrests After Disturbance

Five young men were arrested—one charged with disorderly behaviour and the others with obstructing the footpath—after a disturbance last evening outside a dance hall and coffee bar where Chancery Lane runs off Cathedral square.

Hundreds of teen-agers gathered in the corner of the Square. One of those arrested put up a violent struggle and was handcuffed to the rail running across the back seat of a police patrol car. The first young man arrested put up a struggle and two constables called for reinforcements from the Central Police Station. Four patrol cars with 20 policemen and three police dogs answered the call. Teenage girls and youths hampered the police, but there was little malicious obstruction, according to a policeman at the scene. The disturbance began about 8.30 p.m. and ■ was caused, according to teen-

agers, by a rumour that the band at the dance hall had walked out. The doors of the dance hall were open when police reinforcements arrived. The manager of the dance hall said that one of the two bands that played in it had decided not to do so last Wednesday. He said that he had been at a church meeting before 8.45 p.m. The doors of the dance hall were not opened until 8.45 p.m, he said. This was because of an agreement with shops on the ground floor on Friday nights. He had no other comment to make. The dance hall was full of teen-agers and a band was playing at 9.30 p.m. The coffee bar in the hall was crowded.