LIVELY BATTLE

Southland Times, Issue 21729, 15 June 1932, Page 7

LIVELY BATTLE

POLICE V. UNEMPLOYED ATTEMPT TO EVICT TENANT AFFRAY AT NEWCASTLE t (United Press Assn—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 9.55 p.m.) Newcastle, June 14. Nine police and about 20 unemployed pickets were injured, some severely, in a desperate anti-eviction fight at a house at Highfield to-day. The arrests total 30.

The affray started when a small army of police descended on the house with the intention of evicting the tenant. The unemployed were in possession of the cottage and were armed wi:’. all sorts of weapons, chiefly pointed sticks. The police rushed the place and brandished batons, and were met by fierce opposition. Blows ■were exchanged and felled one after another, accompanied by the wildest shouting and curses. It was not long before a number of combatants were on the ground bleeding and insensible. Every minute a blood-bespattered man ran from the house, taking refuge in a crowd of onlookers. The police’s task was an unenviable one, but they soon had the upper hand. A brick thrown at a policeman missed its mark and felled an onlooker. The battle ended as suddenly as it started. Ambulance men worked for an hour rendering first aid and conveying the injured to hospital.