AUCKLAND RIOT CONTINUES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 90, 16 April 1932, Page 7

AUCKLAND RIOT CONTINUES

FIGHTS IN KARANGAHAPE ROAD SPASMODIC OUTBREAKS OF WINDOW BREAKING SPECIALS" ENGAGE MOBS IN MANY ENCOUNTERS MAYOR THREATENS TO READ THE RIOT ACT (Per Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 15. An ugly fight between special constables and a section of rioters occurred opposite the premises of the Bon Marche in Karangahape Boad to-night. Two men were seriously injured by baton wounds and a dozen more received blows of a less serious character. A stone thrown through a shop window was the start of the fight. A section of special constables in packed formation and brandishing batons above their heads, rushed forward to arrest a man, shouting “Stand back! Stand back!” to a dense crowd of people—men, women and children, who got in their way as they jostled the crowd. Curses were hurled at them by the men in front and women shouted, “Leave him alone you dirty scabs,’’ and the next instant the street was thrown into hopeless confusion. The men used their fists and the specials laid about with their batons. For three or four minutes the street resounded with blows, the scuffling of feet and frenzied yelling. A woman was knocked down in the melee and was carried into a shop. Half a dozen rioters with bleeding heads and arms reeled out of the struggling mass, leaving one of their numbers in the hands of the specials. The men who were in the forefront of the attack gradually thinned out as some were put out of action by wounds, and others got out of the reach of the specials. At least one man was arrested. He was bleeding profusely from a deep gash on the head and was led away by two specials through a jeering, hooting mob. > FURTHER CLASHES OCCUR. Groups of specials became involved in further actions as the evening grew on. Their tactics were to band closely together, two or three deep, and move forward through the surging throng whenever the crash and shatter of a breaking window offered the ma point in the confused mass of humanity on which to centre their attentions. Their progress in this fashion was the signal for an outbreak of a storm of shouting and screaming, men and youths hurling oaths upon them and urging each other to “Go for them, and stand your ground.’’ For 20 minutes or more one section of specials was kept moving from place to place in the dense throng by intermittent spasms of window-breaking. No sooner had they turned in one direction than a resounding crash on the opposite side of the street caused them to dash forward, alter their course and make for the place where the offender was thought to be. The crowd impeded them and was so closely packed that by the time the specials reached the spot everyone round the window had scattered and all they could do was to keep a part of the crowd moving until another window was broken on the opposite side of the street. A dozen windows or more were broken in this manner. An announcement that if disturbances similar to that of the past two nights occurred again he would have no hesitation in reading the Riot Act. was made by the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, to-night. “The effect of the reading of the Riot Act will be that one hour after it has been read if the crowd does not disperse, every person who remains in tho vicinity will be liable to arrest and imprisonment for life.” the Mayor said. “That would mean that the whole of the streets would be cleared. As to-day was the late shopping night, and as the disturbance was purely local, I did not consider it was a fair thing tp make everyone leave the, street and thus disturb business. Further. I was relying upon the request I had made through the Press that everyone who proposed to wulk the streets out of curiosity should stay at home. As, however, they did not go home after the shops closed, it will undoubtedly be necessary in future to take sterner measures and bring the public to a realisation of its duties under such circumstances. If there is a further recurrence of the disturbance with the attendant crowd of onlookers. I will not hesitate to read the Riot Act,” added the Mayor. “Those who then elect to remain in the streets must take the mnsp. quences. ” THIRTY ARRESTS MADE. At a late hour it was ascertained that 30 arrests had been made to-night, principally on charges of rioting and mischief. No actual looting has been reported. The ambulance treated 30 men for minor injuries and three cases are in hospital.