HUNGER MARCHING

Evening Star, Issue 21655, 26 February 1934, Page 9

HUNGER MARCHING

THE BRITISH DEMONSTRATION POLLITT ARRESTED Press Association—Py Telegraph—Copyright, LONDON, February 23. Harry Pollitt, who was arrested on a charge of making seditious statements in a speech to Rhondda Valley hunger marchers, sent a letter asking that the whole Cabinet should receive deputations and hear the case against the Unemployment Bill. Mr Ramsay MacDonald refused, saying that a deputation would not benefit the unemployed. The Communist purposes of these marchers were common knowledge. ' NO ENTHUSIASM LONDON, February 23. The hunger marchers' demonstration promises to be an even greater fiasco than it was last year. The public is convinced of its futility, and the marchers arrived at Croydon and found no one waiting. The Scots contingent at Edmonton was welcomed and entertained, but others could find no encouragement, and nothing had been done to provide sleeping accommodation. Marchers who reached Willesden denounced the Socialist Borough Council and the Labour Party, declaring that but for the churches they would not have had a place to sleep. The principal speakers at Sunday’s demonstration in Hyde Park will be Messrs J. M'Govern, J. Maxton, and A. Sevan (members of the House of Commons), and Miss Ellen Wilkinson (an ex-member). The signatories to the letter asking Cabinet to receive a deputation included Harry Pollitt and Tom Mann, who was also arrested on a similar, charge to that preferred against Pollitt. Both are expected to appear at Pontypridd Police Court. PLANS FOR HYDE PARK MEETING (British Official Wirelesi.) RUGBY, February 24. (Received February 26, at 11 a.m.) The progress of the unemployed marchefs through the country is orderly. Special police precautions have been taken in connection with to-mor-row’s Hyde Park demonstration. Speeches will be delivered from eight platforms, and resolutions protesting against the Unemployment Bill will be submitted. After the demonstration the marchers will disperse, but meetings ip the suburbs will be held later. In the course of his reply to the request of the demonstrators for an interview, Mr Ramsay MacDonald said.: “ The Government is responsible for a Bill which', when it is in operation, will facilitate more satisfactory treatment of the whole question of unemployment. The Bill is now receiving consideration by the House of Commons, composed of members whose knowledge and experience will enable them to discuss the best way of achieving the objectives of the Government.” IN HYDE PARK MODEL OF GOOD ORDER LONDON, February 25. (Received February 26, at 11.10 p.m.) The general impression left by the Hyde. Park demonstration of hunger marchers, delegates to the Congress of Action, and their sympathisers was the truly British display of protest restrained by self-discipline. The participants were good-tempered, and there was never obtrusive police control. Fogs in the suburbs and a continuous drizzle in the West End damped preliminary enthusiasm, but the completeness of the organisation for handling both the moving and the stationary crowds appealed to French journalistic eye-witnesses, who compared this foresight with the lack of foresight preceding the Paris riots. Scotland Yard, to which every Metropolitan division reported, was the real nerve centre, controlling 15,000 constables and 5,000 special police throughout London. Of these 4,000 foot police in gleaming wet capes and 200 overcoated mounted men maintained order in Hyde Park among a crowd numbering between 15,000 and 20,000. The day began with the resumption of the Congress of Action, Mr M'Govern, M.P., securing the adoption of a resolution demanding removal of the Labour Party’s ban on the congress march. The audience frantically cheered Pollitt and Mann, who were bailed out.

Congress adopted a mass action programme, and appointed a deputation, including Mr Maxton, Miss Ellen Wilkinson, and Messrs Campbell and Stephen to present it to the Commons on February 27, refusing to receive Mr MacDonald’s letter declining to hear the deputation. The chairman having appealed to delegates to keep their heads, 1,700 members of the congress departed for Hyde Park, escorted by the imperturbable police, who impartially distributed their services to other contingents. The only incident en route was the arrest of two marchers at Camden Town for obstruction, after which, dogged yet pitiful, their companions marched on. EFFICIENT POLICE CONTROL LONDON, February 25. (Received February 26, at 1 p.m.) Two police officers on top of the Marble Arch directed the influx to the park, while others occupied the control

tower inside the park, assisted by motor cycle despatch riders. A telephone installation connected all the outposts. Squads of police unobtrusively occupied the adjacent thoroughfares. Three huge marquees, equipped with field kitchens, supplied the requirements of the ambulance corps and the police. The size of the crowd fell short of expectations many being the usual loungers who listen to the Sunday orators. Free movement was possible everywhere. The sightseers included the usual number of fashionably-dressed women. • The attendance was only a third of that of the demonstration in October, 1932. The only police casualty was an inspector, who was bitten on the hand by a squad loader, who was arrested.