COMMUNIST RIOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 9

COMMUNIST RIOT.

■ ■» .... '&• SYDNEY TRADES HALL SCENE. - ATTACK ON LABOUR COUNCIL. DELEGATES CUT AND BRUISED. A wild riot, organised by 300 Communists occurred at a meeting, of the Labour Council in the Sydney Trades Hall on the night of June 5. Dozens of delegates, taken completely by surprise, received cuts and bruises, and a doorkeeper was taken to hospital with head injuries. The riot was quelled by the arrival of police. Although the police were summoned to the Trades Hall in response to a telephone messago they were asked by union officials to take no action, and as a result no arrests were made. The meeting of the Labour Council had been in progress about an hour when the trouble occurred. Delegates totalling 100 had under discussion the eviction of tenants at Redfern, and interjections came freely from the section of the public gallery, which was crammed to the doors. One of the doorkeepers asked an Interjector to desist, and immediately he spoko there was a concerted rush from the gallery to him. Simultaneously dozens of Communists rushed up the stairs and entered the meeting room, preventing any delegates from escaping by the nuin en-' trance. The attackers produced pieces of lead pipe, rubber piping, wooden stakes and iron bars, and began their assault. Communists who were seated in the public gallery and were without weapons grabbed chairs and struck delegates. The brunt of the attack was borne by a doorkeeper, Mr. E. Kelly, who was felled to the ground with one vicious blow with a chair. He rose again and received another blow, being hit in all four times with chafrs. The other doorkeeper, Inspector Cables, was also besieged by angry Communists and knocked to tie floor with a piece of rubber piping. Ho was stunned temporarily, but returned to ths fight. Hopelessly outnumbered, he was quickly trampled upon, and the rioters moved towards the stage where the officials were located. Shattered Glass Door. With a deafening roar the gluss door crashed. A flying chair aimed at a retreating delegate had shattered the glass, which showered over tho:ie near by. The chairman of the council, Mr. J. Hooke, received a blow on the head before he was able to get out of the room. Delegates were not slow in defending themselves, and a general fight ensued* The combatants used th-9 chairs, mostly. Many were smashed and broken pieces were then used as weapons. The official table was overturned. Many retreating delegates were canght 011 the stairs by the Communists and knocked to the ground floor. The delegates fought pluckily, but were completely overmastered by the superior numbers 0! the organised assailants. After tho rioters had assailed the two doorkeepers a hue and cry went up for the secretary, Mr. J. S. Garden, who was at s the other end of tho hall. There was a wild rush. Delegates were knocked over and were trampled on. Fists flew wildly. Some Communists received blows from their own comrades. Mr. Garden, however, was too quick for his assailants. Accompanied by other officials of tho council, he hurriedly left tho room by a side door. He had just crushed through the door when a chair was hurled at him. The chair splintered tho glass into a thousand fragments. Mr. Garden hurried to his office on the top floor. When he was misled a Communists rushed up the stairs after him, but the closed doors of his office and tho arrival of the police caused them to disappear quickly. Pandemonium Reigns. x . • Pandemonium reigned during the riot,; which lasted for about 20 minutes. Although they were hemmed in, and in some cases badly battered, the delegates eventually got out of the meeting room.' Some sought shelter in union offices, % others rushed along the corridors of the Trades Hall. Flourishing their pickets and uglylooking sticks, the Communists chased them. A pitched battle occurred on the • ground floor leading to tho main entrance. Communists forced their victims against the walls and pommelled them with fists and sticks. When the riot was at its height Inspector Cables challenged the leader of the Communists, M. Ryan, who is. a delegate, to a fight. "Come on, at him boys," was R.yan's reply, but by this time the police had arrived, and promptly stopped the disturbance. Several large meetings took place at the , Trades Hall during tho night, but business was suspended while the riot was in progress. Union members rushed from the.ir meeting rooms and crowded the stairs to watch tho melee. Many had occasion for regret. They soon found themselves pushed into, the thick of the iight and received some nasty blows. Dolo Inspector Middleton, who was attending a meeting of the Australian Labour Party disputes , committee, rushed to the assistance of Mr. J. S. Gardon. Ho was dealt a severe blow in tho ribs by an unknown assailant in the crowd. There was a big rush for shelter when tho Communists ran wildly along tho corridors and attempted to take complete charge of the Trades Hall. Retreat of the " Reds." A small but well-equipped body _o! police was quite sufficient to end the riofc< The effect of their arrival on. the Communists was electrical. AUthough they; numbered ten to one they fell over themselves in attempting to gel; out of the building. The police quietly but quickly moved through the crowd to tho Labour Council room and tho Trades Hall's worst riot was over. So anxious were the Communists to avoid arrest that they threw, their missiles into remote corners of the building. Tho "Red Flag" and "Solidarity for Ever" were sung by the Communists outside .in honour of the "victory." Mr. Kelly was taken to the Labour Couri- ' cil's room with blood streaming from his head. He was afterwards conveyed to hospital. The reason given by the Communists for their raid was their dissatisfaction with the action of the delegates in supporting the Government