NEW YORK’S, RUSSIANS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 24

NEW YORK’S, RUSSIANS.

WOMEN DEMONSTRATORS. An act of the .Soviet Government in far-off Kharkov resulted in conflict between “ Red ’’ and “ White " Russians recently in Fifth’ Avenue, New' York. So intent were the opposing factions on “demonstrating” their news with fists that traffic was blocked for several minutes and police reserves had to be called 1 out from the East. Thirty-fifth and West Thirtieth Street Stations. Most of the demonstrators were women. Barring' a few black eyea, scratched faces and torn dresses, no serious damage was done by either side. - Four women with more-pronounced views than the rest were locked up at the West Thirtieth Street Station on charges of disorderly conduct. They were Mary Bodnar, Stella _ Abraham, Zina Lissink and Anna Toniak. All were released on bail. The disorder developed out of the arrest of four bishops and 30 clergymen of the Greek Orthodox Church in the town of Kharkov by order of the Soviet. This was explained by the banners and placards carried by the small army of “ Whites,” who gathered at Fifth avenue and Twenty-eighth street soon after noon. From there they marched upon the offices of the Amtorg Trading Corporation, an official Soviet organisation at 255 Fifth avenue, near Twenty-ninth street. The “Reds,” through their intelligence service, had learned what was going on and had prepared a counterattack. The "Reds” were lying in ambush. ' v . As the hand of “Whites,” with Mrs Lissink, wife of a former colonel in the Russian Imperial Army, well in the lead, approached the Amtorg offices, the “ Rgda ” rushed upon them. The" Reds ” had not had time to have suitable placards and banners made, so they tried to tear away the ones carried by their opponents, to put the affair on an equal footing. By the time the police arrived to quell the melee and allow traffic to move again most of the placards had been destroyed and the two factions ,had resorted to scratching and biting and pulling. The spectators attracted by the show proved more difficult to • disperse than the fighters, according to the police.