Students’ Prank in London

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 267, 12 November 1945, Page 5

Students’ Prank in London

LORD MAYOR’S SHOW DAY LONDON, NOV. 9. A number of university students were taken to Bow Street in a police van this afternoon after a fracas in which, scores of police and passers-by were soaked with water from hoses and foam from fire-extinguishers. The clash is reported to have begun when a mas* of students attacked King’s College on the Embankment and attempted to capture the college mascot. The main entrance was barricaded, and as the attackers tried to scramble over the barbed wire and wooden palkngs, collegians on the roof sprayed them with fire-OKtinguishers, hoses, and a stirrup pump. The pavement and tne roadway were soon covered with a messy mixture in which several pedestrians fell fiat. Police had their uniforms soaked when they were called in to restore order. Thirteen students were charged at Bow Street with insulting behaviour, and alternatively with obstruction, and were fined 10s each. Crowds lining Fleet Street for the Lord Mayor’s Show had a preliminary entertainment when King’s College students burst through the police cordon and demonstrated outside the Daily Express office, repeatedly shouting in unison: “We want Beaverbrook." Medical students from St. Mary’s Hospital demonstrated in Fleet Street yesterday against an inaccurate report of the result of a football match. The students today at one stage threatened to surge forward and join the Lord Mayor’s procession, but they were dispersed by mounted police. Units from all services, and 11 bands, participated in the Lord Mayor’s procession, which was the smartest that has been seen for years. The marchers, who were showered with tom-up paper and streamers, included New Zealanders, bearded Indians, “Beef-eaters" m full dress, and pikemen in the costume of Tudor days. The new Lord Mayor, Sir Charles Davis, his predecessor, Sir Frank Alexander, and other city dignitaries followed in cars.