REICHSTAG FIRE TRIAL

Southland Times, Issue 22201, 19 December 1933, Page 5

REICHSTAG FIRE TRIAL

PROTEST BY COMMUNISTS.

DEMONSTRATION IN LONDON.

(United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 5.5 p.m.) London, December 17.

Two hundred East End Communists, including women and children, marched to the German Embassy to protest against the Reichstag fire trial. They charged through a police cordon. Reinforcements made a baton charge, scattered the demonstrators and arrested several. A minor clash in Regent street resulted in the arrest of the bearer of the Red Flag. Eventually Mr Alan Thomas, secretary of the International Labour Defence, accompanied by a colleague, was permitted to enter the Embassy and lodge a petition, but he was not allowed to see the Ambassador. Subsequently Black Shirts and Communists clashed in Trafalgar Square. Mounted police dispersed the crowd.

NEARING END SENTENCES THIS WEEK. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) Leipzig, December 16. Hen- Sachs in a four and a-half hours’ speech urged Torgler’s acquittal. Dimitroff declared that the Court should recognize the innocence of Popoff, Taneff, Torgler and himself and should regard Van der Lubbe as the misused tool of the enemies of the workers. The sentences will be promulgated on December 23. A SOVIET SUBJECT POSITION OF DIMITROFF. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 11.50 p.m.) London, December 18. The Berlin correpondent of the Daily Express, anticipating the acquittal of Dimitroff, says he will not be deported to Bulgaria, where severe sentences await him, but to Russia, where he will be received with open arms. A new edition of DimitrofFs book on Communism in Bulgaria was recently issued in Moscow. The Bulgarian Embassy at Berlin states that Dimitroff is now a Soviet subject One of Dimitroff’s brothers was formerly shot in Bulgaria for Communist activities.