STRIKE RIOTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21845, 6 July 1934, Page 8

STRIKE RIOTS

BAN FRANCISCO VIOLENCE STERN POLICE MEASURES I, USE OF BUCKSHOT AND GAS 'f THIRTY MEN IN HOSPITAL In a terrific surge of violence, which marked the twentieth clay of the longshoremen's strike, nearly 1000 strikers ' in San Francisco engaged ill a fierce battle with the police on the waterFront on May 28. There were several casualties. The rioting was followed two lays later by a conflict between Communists and police. The two days' casualties numbered 30. Details of the conflicts were published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Under command of Lieutenant Joseph Mignola, a squad of police armed with sawed-off shotguns on May 28 fired into a group of strikers who were attempting to cover their advance on pier 18 under a barrage of bricks and cobblestones. A dozen tear gas bombs were hurled into the jeering, hooting crowds of strikers as mounted police spurred their horses through the lines. Pistils were fired in the air, and foot police armed with heavy night sticks flailed other groups of threatening strikers away from the piers. Five Hundred Police Engaged Within an hour an army of 500 /policemen was massed at strategic points on the Embarcadero. Asked point blank to confirm rumours that machine-guns had been brought to the waterfront, the chief of police, Mr. Quinn, said he did not care to state the nature of the police armament. The battle began at 3 p.m., when 1000 strikers, cat-calling, jeering, and carrying banners, attempted to parade on the Embarcadero. They had been warned to keep off the sidewalk, the police said, and the warning was repeated when the vanguard of the marchers reached the pier. John Shoemaker, said to be the leader, according to the police, suddenly shouted: —"All right, boys, let's go!" The officer in command of the mounted squad gave the strikers a final warning. In'answer, one of the paraders seized the bridle of his horse. Others swarmed round the officer and tried to pull him from his mount. The officer drew his club, cracked at the heads nearest to him, and shouted to his men, to close in. Within a space of seconds a block of the Embarcadero became a pandemonium. Police whistles shrilled. Mounted officers, clubs drawn, galloped into the thickest of the mob. Radio squad cars and motor-cycles, sirens screaming, bore down on the riot. With dull "plops" tear gas bombs began exploding on the cobblestoned surface of the waterfront.

Barrage of Bricks and Stones Shouting curses, the strikers within range of the fumes groped their way out of the danger zone. Khaki-clad mounted officers began riding down the sidewalk, clubs flailing, forcing the strikers across the broad street. Splotches /of blood appeared on scores of faces. Police suffered heavily from the barrage of bricks and stones. Their own clubs wreaked equal damage. Across from pier 18, one group of strikers found a pile of bricks and began hurling them into the approaching ranks of policemen. It was then that Lieutenant Mignola gave his'men the order to fire. The officers drew pistols and fired over the heads of the strikers. When the barrage continued they levelled their sawed-off shotguns and fired directly into the line. Mr. Quinn explained that the guns .were loaded only with light buckshot, which at that distance would produce no serious' wound. About 250 Communists and police engaged in another battle on May 30 near the Embarcadero —the second major riot to mark the strike in one week. Twenty-three persons were treated in hospitals as a result and one youth was reported to have been : shot and subsequently spirited away in the ensuing confusion. Scores of others were injured. " Fighting Like a Wild Oat " Men and women "Reds" hurled rocks and tried to pull mounted officers from their' horses, but were routed by clubs and tear-gas bombs. Police pursued the scattering Communistic forces., knocking them down with blows on the head, nulling them from doorways and shops through an area of several blocks. , For the major part, said the police, striking longshoremen took no part in the disturbances. At a recent meeting the longshoremen had voted to affiliate in no way with radical elements. A squad of 12 mounted officers headed by Lieutenant Joseph Mignoji, who led the police in the previous fight, arrived. Police mbved through the crowd, seized the red-haired leader, and pulled " him out fighting like a wild cat. Blows from a club sent him down to the gutter bleeding from head wounds. Rioters picked up rocks and hurled them at the mounted officers and at th<; uniformed and plain-clothes policemen who dashed to the scene. Others tffried to pull policemen from their horses. Men swung their fists at police officers who charged the crowd on foot. Women kicked and scratched and shrieked and some of them were bruised and battered. Driving their horsps on to the sidewalks, officers swung their clubs and sent the rioters moving. Some of the rioters refused to move and were beaten down. Others fled and dodged into doorways and into stores. Police pursued them and as they pulled them fighting from their hiding places swung their clubs and subdued them.