FIERCE FIGHTING

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 5

FIERCE FIGHTING

BATTLES WITH RIOTERS CONCORDE BRIDGE SHAMBLES MOVE TO RUSH CHAMBER .WITHERING POLICE FIRE HUNDREDS OF CASUALTIES By Telegraph—Press Assn.— Copyright Rec. 10 p.m. Paris, Feb. 7. It was the sound of police volleys which re-echoed in the Chamber of Deputies, in which also could be heard the roar and tumult of crowds singing the Marseillaise, which made the final stages of the debate almost impossible. The noise of volleys caused a tense silence; then an uproar in which M. Detastes, followed by M. Tardieu, rushed to the tribune and shouted that the prefect of police had ordered the firing. Deputies of the Right, led by the blind ex-serviceman M. Scapini, attempted to obtain from M. Daladier a declaration that he had not authorised the firing. M. Daladier retorted that the disturbances did not represent the true wishes of exservicemen and that ■ the demonstrators must not supplant the Government. Eventually the sitting was suspended after the second vote of confidence, but the Chamber was in a state of siege. Nobody was able to enter or leave. Rioting continued in many famous thoroughfares, which were darkened owing to the destruction of street lamps. A crowd in Faubourg St. Honore, enraged at the efforts of police and firemen to control them, smashed a cafe opposite the British Embassy till the police charged and cleared the street. All the cafes were speedily closed. Chemists’ shops were filled with wounded, including police volunteers. Private cars flying the Red Cross were picking up the injured. A lady’s maid looking out of a window at the Hotel Crillon was accidentally shot in the head and critically wounded. The injured include M. Marchand, head of the municipal police, who was in charge of operations under M. Sebour, also a Right member of the municipal council, who with his colleagues assumed tri-coloured scarves and marched at the head of the rioters. They were turned back beaten by the police. Most newspapers in editions issued, at 1 a.m. give 12 dead, including four of the mobile guard, an officer of the Republican guard and seven demonstrators. “PROVOKED CIVIL WAR." The Echo de Paris says the Daladier Government has provoked civil war. It is officially admitted that about 200 demonstrators and a similar number of police have been treated in hospitals. The mounted Republican guard suffered more than other forces, being easy targets for brickbats. Official figures do not account for the injured who went home. A total of 350 arrests has been made. The Minister of the Interior at 3 a.m. announced that six were dead and 300 wounded. The prefect of police says seven are dead and 500 wounded, the latter including 200 police. Rioters still controlled the centre of the city early this morning, says the Paris correspondent oft he London Daily Mail. The fiercest fighting occurred in the Place de la Concorde, especially on the bridge, which 10,000 ex-servicemen attempted to cross, advancing with skill under men familiar with trench fighting. The guards’ horses were blinded with sand thrown in their eyes. oSand was gathered from dumps at the riverside. Finally a Republican Guards trumpeter sounded warnings, which were equivalent to the reading of the Riot Act in England. Immediately the guard with drawn swords charged. In a terrible melee the rioters used knives to hamstring the horses. They wrested swords from fallen mounted men and used them for attack. In a struggle which lasted two and a-half hours several demonstrators were killed and many police were injured.

The fight culminated in a final rush for the Chamber of Deputies, when the police fired on the mob, which in retreating left many on the ground, which was littered with the bodies of horses. An attempt was made at 11.35 p.m. to storm the Concorde bridge but the rioters were driven back when the police opened heavy fire, wounding many. The police then cleared the Place de la Concorde, the crowds going along the Champs Elysee, firing as they went. Blind panic prevailed here. A London Times correspondent narrowly escaped death, and a Times photographer was shot through the hat. Meanwhile firemen with difficulty drove the mob with hoses from outside the Chamber of Deputies. The Times says to-night’s events may be the death knell of the existing order. M. Daladier’s unhappy trial of the strong hand may have robbed the Parliamentary institution of the credit he endeavoured to preserve.

HUGE CROWDS INVOLVED REVOLT AGAINST STATE ACTION BY GOVERNMENT Rec. 11.40 p.m. London, Feb. 7. No French morning paper gives the death roll in the riots at higher than nine, though accounts reaching London assert that 29 dead have been identified, including three women, two of whom were shot dead in the Place de la Concorde, where most of the casualties occurred. The News-Chronicle’s Paris correspondent estimated that 60,000 demonstrators were concerned in the disturbances. A renewal of the trouble is threatened to-night, despite the police banning street gatherings. The police assert that the demonstrators opened fire first, but the Paris correspondent of the Times says this is doubtful, as many of the rioters were exservicemen while others were youths who were hardly likely to possess weapons. M. Daladier issued a statement saying that the Government’s appeal for calm had been observed by war veterans, who refused to associate themselves with professional agitators. On the contrary, certain political leagues sought to achieve a coup de force against the Republican regime. Proof had been obtained from arrested men of an armed attempt against the security of the State. Measures had been taken to prevent a further attempt.

It is estimated that the damage to property is £36,000. About fifty motorcars, ten omnibuses and tramcars and 40 newspaper kiosks were burned. Food shops were looted. A later message says the French newspapers now declare the deaths are .at least between 20 and 29 and the injured number 1000.