AN ANARCHIST RIOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11148, 22 August 1899, Page 5

AN ANARCHIST RIOT.

EXCITING SCENE IN PARIS. A FIERCE FIGHT. CROWD CHARGED BY THE GUARDS. CHURCH DESECRATED. BONFIRE IN THE STREET. RIOTERS OVERPOWERED. FORTY-SIX ARRESTS. MANY PERSONS INJURED. By Telegraph.- Press Association.—Copyright. Paris, August 21. Owing to the leniency of the Government towards M. Guerin, a number of Anarchists and Socialists gathered during the afternoon in the Place de la Republique to protest against the supineness of the authorities. M. Sebastien Faure harangued the crowd from the statue of the Republic in the square, declaring that the Anarchists ought to be masters, adding that the Nationalists monopolise the streets. r The police, who were present in force, ordered the crowd to disperse. The Guards cleared the square of 3000, who rushed and scuffled in various directions towards the Place de Nation. A fierce fight ensued here, revolver shots being exchanged. The Commissary of Police and two policemen were injured. They, however, succeeded in arresting Faure.

The rabble, armed with hatchets and knives, smashed the church windows of the Invalides and St. Joseph's, destroyed the pictures on the altars, the font, statues, and the great crucifix, while singing the Carmagnole. They piled chairs from the buildings in the streets and made a bonfire, throwing the broken statues of the Saviour and Virgin in the flames. The Republican guard, on being summoned, were fiercely attacked by the mob, who, with knives, stood on the defence. The Anarchists were ultimately compelled to seek refuge in the house belfry, from whence they hurled missiles. The parapet of the church was set on fire by miscreants, and invaluable pictures were lost. The excitement spread during the evening eastwards, the police driving the rioters before them, while the crowds gave conflicting cheers for the army and Republic. Two kiosks were also burned by the crowd, and 26 persons were arrested at the Eastern terminus, making 46 ill all. Seventy-five persons were injured in the fiasco. The original meeting was due to the presence of a number of members of the Patriotic League, Royalist youths, and anti-Semitics.