ROME POLICE CLUB RIOTOUS MOBS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22510, 13 December 1947, Page 5

ROME POLICE CLUB RIOTOUS MOBS

DEMONSTRATIONS IN MILAN (N.Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyrlslit. 1 (11.30 a.m) LONDON, Dec. 12. Heavily reinforced police acted vigorously and sometimes ruthlessly today, to carry out the Governments instruction that workers refusing to join the Communist call for a general strike must be protected, says the Associated Press' correspondent in Rome.

Helmeted riot squads and mounted police ip Piazza Colonna, in Rome’s centre, swung clubs to disperse crowds of strikers and keep- strike-breaking transport moving.' The. police followed in part of the crowd who sought refuge in the vesti- ‘ bule of the Church of Saint Maria. They clubbed a woman and two other persons in the vestibule and the Asso- • ciated Press photographer as he was taking pictures of the scene. This was t ./ the second time in the day that the police clubbed this photographer. A number of Communist deputies, when they emerged from Parliament building today, became involved in a clash between 3000 strike demonstrators and 200 police, says Reuter’s corres- : A -pendent in Rome. Several deputies received truncheon blows in.the general confusion. The . deputies rushed back into Parliament buildings and brought out the left ' wing Socialist leader, Signor Pietro Nenni, who attempted to remonstrate with the crowd. The police in jeeps eventually dispersed the demonstrators. One thousand workers and Government employees went back to work this ■'’ morning, defying the Communist-nomi-tr - bated Chamber of Labour’s instructions .c- to continue the general strike. The day opened in colder weather fi ;\ and icy winds from the snow-capped nr Apoennines. quickly cleared the streets. More than 100 out of the total of 150 persons arrested yesterday were wearing armbands marked “civil police”.

They are political “strongarm groups supporting the strike which, on the whole was successful as far as shops, transport, cinemas," restaurants and cafes were concerned. Extra security forces including special riot police from Naples moved into Rome this morning following unconfirmed reports that thousands of Communist partisans were converging on the capital. Four hundred demonstrators forced their way past the police guard on .Milan’s Stock Exchange and protested "against the continued fall in securities and quotations. They stopped trading. The decline has wiped out millions of paper profits which piled up during the inflation. Scenes in Piazza Colonna were repeated elsewhere as the police made baton charges on crowds to protect public services remaining in operation. It is estimated that one out of three establishments remained open in Rome tonight. The left wing organisers of the Rome strike had evidently long prepared for it, says the Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Rome. They put on the streets a considerable body of men wearing brassards “civil police,” These men acted as pickets. The police arrested about 100 of them and nearly 100 other strikers for obstruction. One clash occurred outside Parliament Buildipg during the session of the Constituent Assembly. The Communist deputies emerged on the steps singing the Internationale. The police drove jeeps into the crowd and dispersed it.

PROTECTION OF NON-STRIKERS