DUSSELDORF AFFRAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18520, 3 October 1923, Page 9

DUSSELDORF AFFRAY.

" REVOLTING : SAVAGERY."

CONDUCT OF GERMAN POLICE.

SIXTY PEOPLE WOUNDED.

HIGH OFFICIAL ACCUSED.

By Telegraph— Associatior— y. (Received , 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. ' . PARIS, Oct. 1. Advices from Dusseldorf state that "•"Revolting Savagery" is the . term applied in the French communique to the conduct of the German police pursuing and shooting Separatist demonstrators, after firing upon them without provocation, though the occupation authorities ordered them to remain in barracks.

The communique says that sixty were wounded, of whom twenty-three were seriously hurt and sent to hospital.

French troops restored order by 6 o'clock in the evening, after which traffic was prohibited, while they were busy arresting the police. , It is also stated that a high official is involved in the disorder. - ■.;•'!*

The communique declares that 4000 Communists drawn up half a mile from tho demonstration did not intervene.

FIREARMS AND CLUBS.

FIGHT WITH THE POLICE.

FRENCH TROOPS ARRIVE.

A. and N.Z. LONDON, Oct. L . The Dusseldorf correspondent of the Times was an eye-witness of the tragedy hy which Red Sunday became doubly red. The assembled people were a;; tiredlooking crowd drawn from the struggling middle classes, all from the Rhineland.

. Two revolver shots (apparently from Communists) began the trouble. The crowd became panic-stricken.

The Separatists' Rheinwehr drew their firearms and clubs. A moment's quiet ensued, but it merely preceded the breaking of the storm.

Somebody emptied his revolver, and slaughter began. The streets resounded with the noise of shooting on every side.

One hundred thousand people broke loose and ran wildly hither and thither. One Separatist stood up and deliberately fired a dozen rounds into the flying crowd. Gradually the panic-stricken masses squeezed their way from , the street of death.

One saw glinting in the sun the helmets of the police advancing on the scene. The Separatists behind trees and corners emptied their ■ revolvers and rifles against the police, who were using magazine pistols and machine-guns. The police advanced, and the Separatists fled, leaving several dead and wounded on the ground. The shooting ceased after half an hour, and the police held the field while the dead and wounded were removed.

About half an hour later . French armoured cars, tanks, and cavalry arrived, but the bloodshed was not yet finished. ~'> . \ ,

A dozen Rheinwehr ruffians rushed a policeman, disarmed him, and beat him to death with leaden pipes, the doomed man covering his face with his hands and sinking to the ground. •

A similar scene was enacted a few moments later near the same spot.

When Separatists attempted to repeat these minders upon a wounded policeman, French cavalry at last interfered.

FIXING RESPONSIBILITY.

POLICE IN MUFTI BLAMED

A. and N.Z. LONDON, Oct. 1. A despatch from Dusseldorf suggests that important German plain clothes policemen were responsible for breaking up the Separatist demonstration. It asserts they y mingled with the crowd and started a disturbance, upon .which the uniformed police fired ; on the demonstrators, many of ''whom were wounded and picked up by a French ambulance. The police barracks were full of wounded. It is.reported some of the demonstrators were killed.

/A detachment -of French troops and gendarmerie afterwards occupied, jLhe polico barracks and arrested the police.

A semi-official statement issued in Berlin declares that the police did not intervene till several of their officers were maltreated and one shot by the Separatists. The latter summoned the French military, who disarmed . the police And afterwards ; permitted them to *be illtreated...... ■;;<' /'■ .

PRUSSIAN REVOLT FAILS.

REPULSED FROM FORTRESS.

ARREST OF THE LEADERS.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.

(Reed. -C.5 P.m.) / BERLIN. Oct., 1. ! • A /Nationalist revolt in Prussian -j town of j Kustrin, at the/confluence of the Rivers Wartho and,. Oder, 51 miles from Berlin, has failed. The: insurgents attempted to disarm the garrison and occupy the fortress, but were repulsed. The: Nationalist leaders were arrested by the Richswehr in ;■ ■ the neighbouring towns. Th troops were ordereo 1 To suppress the revolt ruthlessly. The \. Minister for Defence imposed a censorship on .military news. ; '.'-/'-/ : /"''. , ■ ''■-"'■ BAVARIAN DICTATORSHIP. NATIONALISTS FAVOURED. STORMS THREATEN REICH. A. and N.Z. ... . LONDON. Oct. 1. The Munich correspondent of ;. the Daily Express says that Dr. von Kahr's policy, as dictator of Bavaria, is decidedly one-sided. - , Armed soldiers /are searching Socialists' quarters, though there have been no steps to take arms; from the Nationalist organisations." It is openly boasted that Munich alone can produce 70,000 armed men in an hour. Socialist meetings are prohibited, but Nationalists' are allowed to hold so-called family gatherings, one of which' was attended^by. 1000 men in uniforms and' steel helmets. <-,-• , ; Advocates of separation say that if Bavaria leaves Germany it will not ;be compelled to pay reparations. ';// //; -V • 'The Berlin correspondent of the. Daily : Chronicle says ' that storms' threaten ) the Stresernahn Government. .The Centre Party and Democrats are obviously uneasy, as the campaign. by the Nationalists is gathering strength, and von JKahr as I tilting energetically against the Reich.