Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1889-04-13
A LONDON LETTER
PERSISTENT POLICE ATTACKS
UPON SOCIALISTS.
The English B0urgeoisie and Nobility
Afraid of Socialist Arguments.
But They Cannot Stem the
Tide-The WOrkmen
Not Deceived.

Police despotism is as rife rs ever
III London. The new Chief Com
missioner of Metropolitan Police,
Monro, is, if anything, more tyran-
meal than. his predecessor, Warren.
Suppression of public meeting by
force appears to be his one aim. We
Social-Democrats naturally come in
for the largest share of police bIud-
gooning. On January 3lst the first
provisional meeting of London's new
Municipal Council was held. The
Social Democratic Federation had
arranged a meeting of the unem-
ployed for that day at Cleopatra
Needle on the Thames embank-
ment. From this meeting it was
intended to send u deputation to
the County Council meeting to lay
before the Council measures for
dealing with the question of
the unemployed. This dcputation
was to be received by our newly
elected Councillor, John Burns.
But when the time of meeting ar
rived it WAS found that the place
was occupied by the police. Will
llams, in attempting to speak, was
arrested. The crowd was dispersed.
All this was done without the
slightest notification on the part of
the Commissioner of Police,
To protest against these high
handed proceedings the Social Dem
ocratic Federation summoned an in
dignatlon meeting at Cleopatra's
Needle on March Sd. Twice was
Mr.. Monro notified of our intention
to hold that meeting. He gave US
no intimation whatever that he in
tended to prohibit that meeting. Yet
when the organizers of the meeting
arrived at Cleopatra's Needle at the
appointed time, they found the
monument closely guarded by police,
and about 1000 constablcs in readi-
ness to forcibly disperse any procession
that might come on to the Thames
embankment. They were told that
any attempt to hold the meeting
would be suppressed by force. For
tunately we were able to turn our
professions away to Hyde Park,
before they reached the Thames
embankment, and thus a serious dis
turbance, for which no one was pre-
pared, was avoided. On reaching
Hyde Park it was arranged with the
Superintendent of Police that a
meeting should be held at the
Achilles statue. From this monu-
ment speakers have addressed num-
erous meetings. No sooner had the
proceedings begun than an attempt
was made by the police to forcibly
clear the statue. 1t would seem that
the promise of the Superintendent
of Police was only to hold good un-
til his men were re-enforced. A
sharp struggle took place between
police and people, in which several
of our speakers were severely hand
led by the police. Eventually the
crowd was cleared by the police, and
the meeting was held in another
part of Hyde Park.
Thus two orderly and peaceful
meetings were forcibly stopped
without any notification whatever
on the part of the Commissioner of
Police. Questions were asked in
the House of Commons concerning
this unwarrantable suppression Of
public meeting. The Home Secre-
tary only vouchsafed the most evas
i've replies. As a matter Of fact the
people of London have no more
right according to law to hold open
air gatherings than the people of
any other continental city. We
have been allowed to hold open-air
meetings without molestatlon in the
past because the meetings then hel !
4 "A rnt nhnl lnnr.o H. .inrhA e IL .