DISTURBANCES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 10 March 1939, Page 7

DISTURBANCES

EXHIBITIONISM RECALLED I By Air Mail-Own Correspondentl LONDON. 9th February. . The sporadic outbreaks of political disturbances in London since Parliament reassembled recall the exhibitionism of the Suffragette days. The demonstrations are based largely upon the Spanish non-intervention issue. and London’s adolescent Fascists and Communists have been parading with warring placards, interrupting the routine occasionally to bang each other over the heads with rolled-up newspapers. One result has been an increase in the number of police-officers stationed near the House of Parliament and in the approaches to the Central Lobby, where, just before Christmas, an indignant extremist smashed a window. Incidentally. most of these marchers and chorus-singers who parade outside Parliament arc breaking the law. for there is an Act prohibiting demonstrations within about a mile of Westminster when the House of Commons is in session. But it is difficult to enforce this ruling, and the police have to be content with shepherding crowds round and round Parliament Square. M.P.’s are wondering if the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement will succeed in getting their famous coffin into the Lobbies. Stranger things have happened.