FATAL CANADIAN RIOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20992, 1 October 1931, Page 11

FATAL CANADIAN RIOT.

MINERS RESENT WAGE CUT. STREET FIGHT WITH POLICE. OTTAWA, Sept. i! 9. A message from Estevan, a coalmining town in Saskatchewan, says three miners were killed and about 20 other persons injured, including six Royal Canadian Mounted Police and two women, as the result of a clash between striking miners and the police this afternoon. The battle was the culmination of weeks of bitterness, arising out of a strike at the coalmines at Bienfiat and Taylortown, near Estevan. The miners had planned a march on Estevan to-day, but the Mayor, Mr. Bannantyne, forbade it. The strikers, however, entered the town in trucks and motor-cars and marched through the streets. The miners encountered the police a block from the Town Hall, and sent a shower of missiles at the officers. The strikers pressed on, while the police slowly withdrew. The police first fired into the air. They then wielded their batons and called the fire brigade to their assistance. An attempt to turn a hose on the rioters was frustrated when the engine was surrounded. The police then directed their revolvers at the crowd. The battle ended after 40 minutes, with the invaders driven from the town. The police made 50 arrests. There were about 600 men in the crowd. According to the Mayor, some were armed with rifles and many had knives. No Estevan citizens took part in the riot. The Mayor alleges that Communist leaders from Winnipeg were present. The miners struck against a 10 per cent, reduction in their wages. The mine is being operated by non-union men, mostly ex-soldiers from Calgary. CLASH WITH COMMUNISTS. POLICE USE BATONS. WINNIPEG. Sept. 29. There was a Communist riot last night, in which seven people were arrested and three policemen seriously injured during a pitched battle. The Mayor, Mr. Webb, swore in a speck! force of emergency constables today and threatened to proclaim martial law. When tho City Council refused to hear their leader, T. O. Woods, 200 Communists invaded the City Hall. An alderman was hit by a stone. Fifty persons were injured when the police, using their batons, charged and drove the mob out of the hall.