SANG “RED” SONGS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 6 April 1931, Page 5

SANG “RED” SONGS

, UNEMPLOYED DEMONSTRATION. TRAM TRAFFIC HELD UP. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, April 4. About 400 relief workers on strike, who were addressed by one of their number in the Trades’"Hall yard this morning, were urged to keep on strike, after which a procession was formed down the principal city streets. Banners were carried protesting against the new relief rates. The party formed up outside the newspaper offices, which were counted out, njnd ‘then preceded down Lambton Quay, where the tram traffic .was held up, the demonstrators refusing to move off the tram lines. The situation several times became tense, tho trains proceeding at a walking pace pushing the demonstrators, who leaned against the buffers in an attempt to stop the trams. One car, after being held up for several hundred yards, gathered speed, charging through the head of the "procession and scattering banners and demonstrators to right and left. The demonstrators pulled off the trolley poles on one occasion, a scuffle ensuing between a tramwayman and a striker. Another tram was similarly affected in Cuba Street. Returning outside the Trades Hall the procession stopped in the middle of the road, singing red songs and stopping the tram traffic. The demonstrators dispersed after a further demonstration jhnd been arranged.