UNUSUALLY QUIET

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 185, 3 May 1932, Page 9

UNUSUALLY QUIET

May Day Observances COMMUNIST MARCHES A Disturbance in London By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright London, May 1. May Day was celebrated throughout Europe practically without incident, London providing one of the few disturbances. A thousand Communists, after speeches in Hyde Park, attempted to reach the Japanese Embassy to protest against the Shanghai situation. They resented police shepherding the procession and so attacked them with a volley of stones. The police charged with batons, and hand-to-hand fighting ensued in which banner-bearers belaboured the police with banner poles. A police inspector was injured in the face with a broken bottle. Traffic in all directions was stopped for an hour. Thousands of pleasure-seek-ers stampeded when the fighting began. A heavy rainstorm added confusion. Eight arrests were made. Complete Stoppage in Madrid. Work eeased everywhere in Madrid on May Day. The city was paralysed. Cafes, restaurants, shops, theatres ahd cinemas were closed. Taxis remained in their garages. Newspapers were not published. Broadcasting was suspended, and the authorities forbade voluntary staffs working and prohibited private motors on the streets. Communists demonstrating attacked mounted police, flinging five off their horses. Armoured cars suppressed rioting with fifty arrests. . Communists at Cordoba attacked a church. The Civil Guard intervened, killing a Communist and injuring several. „ Police and Communists at Seville exchanged shots. Seven were wounded. Warsaw reports that two Communists were killed in a fight with police at Dombrowa, a coal-mining centre. Russian Military Parade. Moscow staged the greatest military parade ever held under the Soviet regime, thousands of troops and armed civilians filing past Lenin’s tomb, while 275 aeroplanes manoeuvred overhead. Hundreds of new tanks and armoured cars testified to the increased mechanisation of the Soviet forces. M. Stalin, who took the salute from the plinth of the tomb, afterward stood there all day while a million citizens paid homage to Lenin. The demonstrations showed that M. Stalin’s ascendancy is maintained. A report from Tokio states that May Day passed there without incident. Twelve thousand marched in procession, escorted by five thousand police. NO SERIOUS TROUBLE Demonstrations in America

(Rec. May 2, 5.5 p.m.) New York, May 1. The traditional May 1 international Labour day was celebrated throughout the Western Hemisphere with unusual quiet. Although demonstrations were held in many cities in South America, Central America and the United States, there are as yet no reports of serious trouble. Sixty thousand Communists and sympathisers paraded lower New York. Heavy rain kept many spectators away and probably prevented clashes. Three hundred police kept the paraders moving. They guarded the City Hall and other buildings. The demonstrators carried banners demanding free rent, food and employment, and denouncing capitalism. As May Day fell on Sunday, many demonstrations in the United States were held yesterday. MELBOURNE RIOTING Acting-Premier Assaulted RIVAL PROCESSIONS Melbourne, May 2. Trades Hall leaders and the ActingPremier, Mr. T. Tunnicliffe, were assaulted in a riot at the May Day celebrations on Yarra Bank. Mr. Tunniclilfe and the president of the Trades Hall Council, Mr. Riley, were pushed off a lorry, and while on the ground savagely assaulted by a number of men. A record crowd witnessed the marches through the city. The Communist Party organised a demonstration in opposition to that of the Trades Hall, and the two rival processions marched the streets.