CROWD BEATEN UP

Grey River Argus, 28 February 1947, Page 5

CROWD BEATEN UP

BELGIAN REGIME Reads Against Ex-War Prisoners BRUSSELS, Feb. 26. About 50,000 people demonstrated here for the payment of overdue money to ex-prisosers of war. iney clashed with police in a large series of riots. Fightng broke out when demonstrators tried to break through lines of mounted and foot police in front of the Government buildings. The police clubbed with rifles to 'neat back the surging crowd. Rioters hurled bottles at police lines. The police opened fire with mach-ine-guns. Scores were trampled underfoot in clashes. An undetermined number were killed and wounded by machine-gun and rifle fire, swords, clubs and flying bottles. _ Armoured cars and reinforcements of regular cavalry were thrown into the fray. Mounted police charged when the head of a column of rioters reached the Government Buildings. The charge spent itself. The rioters pressed on, crashing through three police lines. A flood of people burst through into Parliament Square. Many fell on the cobblestones and others passed over them. Cavalrymen swung their swords and the front of the mass began to fall back, while others pushed forward. The street rang with the screams of the injured. Rifle. and machine-gun fire began when rioters met new lines of police in Parliament Square. Demonstrators sent captured lorries crashing in mounted police- some of whom were unhorsed and injured. Firemen from the roof of Parliament Buildings directed water jets against a heaving, milling crowd. A blow from a gendarme’s sabre killed one demonstrator instantly. Ambulances and Red Cross cars were rushed to the scene. Several arrests were made. The Minister of Public Health, Dr. Albert Marteaux, was injured when lie was clubbed as he entered Parliament Buildings. (Rec. 9.5). LONDON, Feb. 27. Explaining the origin of the rioting in Brussels, a Daily Mail correspondent there says: It began as an orderl}' parade of former prisoners of war. The ex-prisoners had flocked from the provinces of Belgium to put their case to Parliament. The demonstrators, carrying slogans, marched to Parliament. There they were confronted with police who were armed with rifles, and by army cavalry, with their drawn swords. There was no indication of violence, even when a few preliminary scuffles occurred. Suddenly the tension snapped. The men’s leaders grappled with gendarmes, who smashed their rifle butts into the faces of their assailants. Eighteen of the demonstrators and twelve policemen were injured.