SYDNEY DOMAIN RIOT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26478, 4 June 1947, Page 5

SYDNEY DOMAIN RIOT

GAOL SENTENCE IMPOSED NOTICE OF APPEAL GIVEN Rec. 10.30 p.m. SYDNEY, June 3. “ One of the most serious aspects in this case is that in my opinion. Darby was entitled to hold this meeting, and that by force he wa s denied the right of free speech,” said the magistrate in sentencing Bernard O’Sullivan, aged 32, a watersider, to one month’s gaol for his part in the disturbance in the Sydney Domain on March 18. The magistrate found O’Sullivan guilty of having knowingly joined an unlawful assembly. The accused and 14 others had pleaded not guilty after having been charged by the police following the disturbance. Counsel for O’Sullivan gave notice of appeal. The magistrate said that the fact that O’Sullivan and others held a meeting in close proximity to the first location of Darby’s meeting, and by means of amplified noise caused Darby to move, showed at least the intention to be a nuisance. There was no doubt that Darby and another man were The cases of the 14 others were stood over until O’Sullivan’s appeal had been determined. A message from Sydney on March 18 stated: “ Wild scenes occurred in the Sydney Domain this afternoon,” when 300 or 400 waterside workers and their sympathisers, led by well-known Communists, bashed, kicked and pushed a group of citizens who had assembled to Drotest against the ’holding up of food ships- Mr A. D. Bridges, the Liberal M.L.C., received facial injuries, and several other members in the crowd, including elderly men, were knocked down. The police made several arrests, but their numbers were inadequate to affect the position. Last night 100 men volunteered at Manly to unload food from ships immobilised in port by the watersiders’ strike. Mr E. D. Darby, a Liberal M.L.C.f organised this afternoon’s meeting to attract more volunteers and to ask for police protection Shortly before the meeting 50 watersiders were near by, shouting abuse at the organisers, who were preparing to use a utility truck with amplifiers.