Stormy Meeting

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 76, 9 March 1931, Page 5

Stormy Meeting

CRUELTIES OF THE SOVIET BIG LONDON "DEMONSTRATION LONDON, March 7. There were turbulent scenes at the Trade Defence Union's demonstration of protest against the brutalities of Russian prison camps, at the Albert Hall to-night. As soon as Viscount Brentford rose to speak a crowd of men stood up on the topmost tier of the hall and shouted "Long Live the Soviet! " Pandemonium broke loose. Hundreds of stewards surrounded the interruptors and a free fight resulted in the demonstrators being thrown into the street. When Viscount Brentford attempted ,to resume the uproar was continued. Fireworks were thrown from the galleries. The stewards again pounced on the interruptors and some women were bundled out kicking and screaming. Describing the horrors of the timber camps, Viscount Brent-ford said that the cruelties by the Tsar were nothing compared to the barbarities perpetrated in Russia to-day. Speaking broken English, a Russian escapee from Archangel related his terrible experiences in the camps, conditions in which were appalling. The speaker was subjected to a hostile demonstration, as was Mr Churchill, who pointed a finger at the people being ejected, and shouted above the din, "They are miserable hirelings—poor wretched people paid with roubles to make trouble." A resolution was moved by Sir Hilton Young calling on the Government to terminate the trade agreement with Russia, and was carried amid booing. which was drowned by a storm of cheers.