RIOTING IN BERLIN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8542, 24 March 1908, Page 8

RIOTING IN BERLIN.

POLICE SABIIE UNEMPLOYED, j There are 60,000 unemployed in Berlin, according to the calculation of the Vorwaerts, and a demonstration made j by them on Tuesday, January 21, resulted in a conflict with, the police, in which the latter used their sabreß with merciless severity. j Nine meetings of unemployed summoned by the Social Democratic Party woro held in the northern and southern quarters of Berlin, and were attended by over 12,000 persons, while hundreds of unemployed had to be turned away from the doors. Speeches J were delivered by well-known social-1 ists, such as Herron Singer and Zubeil, and a resolution was adopted at all the meetings demanding from the State the immediate undertaking of all building projects, at wages fixed by the trade unions, and the removal of duty on comestibles, and demanding from the municipalities the immediate institution of relief work. Large bodies of police, armed with revolvers, patrolled the streets, and immediately dispersed the people as they left the meetings. The unemployed were generally. most docile, and it was stated that the disorders which occurred were entirely due to tlie interference of the police. On the Weidendammer Bridge the latter drew their swords to disperse the demonstrators, but the only bloodshed which occurred was at Schiffbauerdamm, where a body of about 300 unemployed mostly young men and boys;, were caught by two bodies of police between the Moltka and Marschall bridges over the Spree. J The police at the latter bridge, l thinking that the crowd was attemptI ing to force a passage, drew their j sabres, and so mercilessly laid about j them that pools of blood were afterj wards left on the pavement. ! According to the correspondent of ! the Daily Telegraph, who witnessed ' I the scene from his windows, the police, without any reason,'behaved with the utmost brutality. He saw a crowd coming along the Schiffbauerdamm which at the extreme estimate would number 300 persons. It was evidently being driven down the street by the police, who had been holding Crown Prince Bridge, and presently, evidently responding to pressure from behind, it broke into a run. ALIVE WITH SABRES. Immediately afterwards the pursu--1 i ing force came into sight round the I corner, mounted and foot constables plying their swords with all their i might and main. Then the fugitives j were perceived by the police on guard j at Marschall Bridge, who at once j whipped - out 'their swords and ran ; down to meet them. The crowd was thus taken between two fires, and a scene which absolutely : baffles description ensued. The only ■ way of escape was through the line I of policemen wielding their swords i with far too much haste and energy : to be mindful of the injunction pre- ; sumably placed upon _ them that they : should strike only with the flat and ! not with the edge. For a hundred yards the street was loosely filled with terrified proletarians seeking to escape, and mounted and foot police hew?ng ; away at them with their blades for j all they were worth. ! The whole air seemed to be alive with flashing sabres. Beaten back

from one direction, the frightened lads turned to the other, only to be set upon by one or two policemen of the opposite force. Cries of terror alid pain rose from the street, but clearly above it all .were heard the yoices of the officers shouting, '' Einhauen! Einhauen!" which, it may be remarked in passing, is the Usual call for a cavalry charge, and may be translated, "Lay on!" One man retaliating was seen to fire at a policeman, while others snatched up chunlcs of rubble near a new building and hurled them at the officers. Then the latter made a fresh charge, .and in a few minutes dazed youths and boys, with frightful gashes on their heads and blood streaming down their faces, were groping about aimlessly, and being directed in the way they should go by tremendous thumps on the back from the swords of the police. Others, who wore limping painfully, but whose injuries, if any, were hidden by their clothes, wore assisted off the sccne of battle in like manner. A lad, who looked about fourteen, had got left standing by himself in the centre of the road, obviously uncertain in which direction he should turn. Two policemen dashed at him, one on each side, and each got in three or four blows with his sword before the stupefied youngster could turn and flee. The •'field of battle Was left strewn with hats, some of them cut clean through the crown by sabre strokes, while splashes of blood here and there on the roadway or pavement showed where the wounded had fallen. The list of casualties issued on the Tuesday evening stated that approxi- . mately one hundred demonstrators ! sustained injuries necessitating mcdii cal treatment. About thirty of them | were dangerously wounded. Severn] ; policemen received injuries necessitat- | ing medical attention, and many | others had bruises and slighter I wounds. Eight arrests were made.