GREAT MEETING OF SOCIALIST IN HYDE PARK.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3605, 20 April 1886, Page 4

GREAT MEETING OF SOCIALIST IN HYDE PARK.

— ♦ (Home News.) A mass meeting, called together by tho Social Democratic Federation, wns held m Hydo Park on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 21. Extensive arrangements wcro mado by the police to cope with tho crowd should the occasion arise. Men wcro drafted from the outlying districts, and a -considerable force of mounted polico was kept m readiness. Even the military had received instructions to hold men m readiness to turn out at a moment's notice if called upon. Shortly after one o'clock all along the West Strand, Pall Mall, St James's-street, and Piccadilly, to Hyde Park-corner policeinon were stationed m couples every fifty yards apart. Mustered m tho opon spaco m front of tho Athenteum Club were some sixty policemen, and further on m tho square, at St James's Pnlaco, wero 100 more bluo-eoated guardians. From Scotland Yard to Hydo Pork-corner mounted policomen were posted at distances of 200 yards or so apart, and these riding backwards, and forwards kopt up constant communication between tho inspectors commanding tho various bodies of policemen on foot. A few minutes after two o'clock, three large wagons, each drawn by two horses, pulled up m Grosvenor-croscent, within a hundred yards of Hyde Park-corner. Thes» wagons had been hired to serve as platforms for the Socialist speakers. By-and-by a few Socialists began to gather around the wagons, and m order to prevent the assemblage of a crowd, Messrs Hyndman, Burns, Williams, and Champion, who arrived shortly afterwards, ordered tho wagons to draw into tha mews and wait there out of sight. As the hour of meeting at Achilles' Btatue, 3.30 p.m., approached, numbers of people streamed from all directions into the park, within which the police precantions were greater than anywhere else. 'Strong patrols of men on foot and on horseback wore marched from point to point, and detached bodies were held m reserve at different places. The park was almost entirely abandoned by its wQnted Sunday afternoon fashionable loungers. Several members of Parliament, attracted no doubt, by curiosity, however, were seen, among" them Mr Herbert Gladstone, Mr Chaplin, Mr Jacks) Mr Aahmead-Bartlett and Mr BartlettrCoutts. Many distinguished military men also walked about, watching the -unusual scene. The majority of the spectators passed along the paths towards tho Serpentine and the Reformers' Tree, not more than 3000 or 4000 loitering around Hyde Park-corner and the statue. A few minutes after three o'clock a band of forty men wearing red rosettes, belonging j to the Battprsea branch of Socialists, marched ! up to where tho threo wngons stcod. This body was the only really organised procession that came upon the ground. The Batteraea branch, with two hundred or so moro who had gathered about, were told off to form a guard to protect tha wagons and the speakers. At twenty minutes past threo o'clock the coal wagons emerged from the mews, and started to enter the park. Fach of the wagons was crowded with men. Mr Hyndman rode m the second wagon and Mr Champion m the third, while Messrs Burns and Williams walked with their followers m front of tho leading wagon. Near the Achilles statue tho threo wagons took up positions about seventy-five yards apart. No time was lost, and a red flag having been wavod from each wrgon the speakers began. Tho crowd was remarkably orderly and well disposod. Indeed, there wns less roughness and horse-play at the meeting than common, and there wero few or no interruptions. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, and, with the exception of a few rushes by an organised gang of roughs, -yraa very orderly. Before it wus over the crowd had swelled to nn enormous size. By five o'clock there must havo been between 60,C00 and 70,000 people gathered around tho three wagons. Tho resolution demanding that the Government should immediately adopt the proposals of tho Social Democratic Federation for the organisation of tho labour of the unemployed wns put and declared carried without dissent, and for tho first time there was an approach to some enthusiasm, many of the spectators cheering and waving their hats. A show of hands was also called for, and the demand met with v genoral response, the chairmen the while each waving their red flags. The crowd at once began to disperse, many going towards the Marble Arch and the Serpentine. The wagons, with the speakers st ill m them, and followed by a crowd numbciing from fifteen to twenty thousand, started to return by the route they enteredjhe park. It was a noisy, good-humoured English crowd. T hose behind No. 1 (Burn's wagon) snng, " Re's v jolly good fellow," whilst those behind wagon No. ; 2 hummed alternately "tlio Marseillaise" and "We've got no work to do." Moving slowly, the denso mass of people reached the Achilles statue, from which point to outside the park the space was blocked with people. . Hero Burns halted his wagon, which was the leading- one, and called out, "Friends, I want you all to go away at once and peaceably. Go away and give no excuse for interference. Good-bye — go home," and then the wagon moved on. The affair did not last ton seconds. Scarcely however, had the vehicle stopped m its progress when about a dozen mounted police rode up nnd forced their way through tho mob. The Daily Telegraph, describing tho extraordinary conduct of the police at Mil's point, says : — Turning sharply they charged back, striking right and left with their hunda, and sending the people flying. A posse of policemen on foot joined m the inftlee, and those nearest were buffeted and knocked down, There was a roor of execration from a portion of the mob, but the .police swept all before them, coming up to the wagons and driving away the Socialist body-guard clinging to the sides and ends of tho vehicles. Several of the Socialists narrowly escaped being run over. Those m the wagons shouted to the police to lot the people alomj, and varied these entreaties by denouncing the police as cowards. All tho way down Grosvenor-place the police chased the mob, which dodged about trying to follow the wagons, which all the while slowly proceeded towards Victoria station. Below St George's Hospital the mounted police made another charge, several members of tho force riding on tho pavoment and throwing a number of people to tho ground. So far as could be seen, up to this point there had been no attempt to resist or retaliate upon the police, Ono of . tho mounted policemen as the mob — which was now much scattered — was going down Grosvenor-place, went galloping at a break-neck pace, hundreds of yards m front of hia comrades, overthrowing m his career half a scoro of men nnd boys. It is just possible that ho was unable to manage his horse, otlic wise hia action is difficult of explanation. Once, the police had interfered — and no doubt they thought (he situation warranted the conreo pursued — they never slackened m their efforts to hurry and break up the crowds hastening out of the park. Just opposite St Georgo's Hospiial ono of the mounted police inspectors wn3 loudly hooted, and' he was seen to put his hand instinctively upon his rovolvor. " Take your hand away ! " roared someone m the crowd, and the officer withdrew it, without doing moro than merely showing tho weapon. As soon as the crowd reached tho Buckingham Palace-road, the sound of pluto glaiU being broken m the largo mansions on tho left announced that the wanton destruction had begun. At the bottom of Victoria si reel the oratorß and their friends alighted aii'l were cheered loudly aslhoy walked away, and it was from this point that tie crowd first began what can only be described as a riotous attack upon, the polico. Led by a mounted inspector . and a detachment of police, mounted and on foot, tho mob, which numbered at least 5003, marched along Victoria-street towards the Houses of Parliament, singing '"Rule Britannia." In the Westminster-bridge-road tho crowd, which had been reinforced by a mob from Lambeth, became most riotouß. , Several windows were smashed, and liand-to-hand encounters took placo with tho police. So serious at last did affaira look that the police drew their batons and used them without mercy on all who encountered them. ' At a quarter to six o'clock the crowd grow denser nnd moro threatening, An increasing fog threatened to render polico duty a difficult and a dangerous one. A message was therefore sent to Kennington-lnne police-station for a reserve

detatchment of polico, who wero quickly on tho spot, using every effort to disperse the loitorers, who, however, lingered many houra. One policeman wns thrown down and brutally kicked by tho mob, and had to be taken to tho hospital. It is said that the horso of one of the mounted polico was stabbed m tho breast and that another was lanierl m a block.