CLASH AT CHRISTCHURCH

Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1931, Page 9

CLASH AT CHRISTCHURCH

Alleged MdsboW orders POLICE DISPERSE COMMUNISTS. ONE OF CONSTABLES INJURED. CL — By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Aug. 1. Four meh were arrested after clashes between the police and hh unauthorised pithcession of Communists and unemployed this, riidimihg. . One policefrian Was kfideked tihconscious when rushed by a group at the faihvay slatioH. It is alleged that he was knocked on the head.

The procession was to have started from the railway station at 11 o’clock and while the hrbwd waited A. F. MttrShqu, one. bi the leaders, addressed the meh,. The pblice ordered the crowd of over 1000 to move bh, but they refused/ In an attelript ,tb break up the gathering Sergeant Leckie pulled from underneath Marshall the chair oH which he Was standing. The crowd then commenced to obstruct the police, who drew their batons. A gang of men rushed Constable Phillips; who fell, His head striking the paveriient violently. . The demonstration, it is stated, was the direct outcome of brdfetS from the Communist Ifiternatibhal (Moscßw) for Worldwide “celebration bf a fighting, day against wii*.” . ... ... Communists arranged and led the actual procession, which included only 20 of 30 men and two or three women. The crowd which followed, however, numbered niahy hiiridfeds; • , . The scene at the Bank of New Zealand ebrhet fof a time assumed ugly proportions, but the firm attitude of the policb and prompt arrests quelled the trouble.. The men arrested are McKpchnie, C. F. Riley, Henry Dodge and George Harris, the charges Being of disorderly conduct and inciting to lawlessness.