The leader., 1904-12-17
WAVE
BLOOD-RED FLAG
Big Anti-Government DemOnstra-
tion in St. Petersburg.
POLICE CHARGE THE POPuLACE
Mounted OMcers Rode at Full Cali
Iop Into the Maddened ThrOns,
Leaving Bruised and Broken
Heads in Their wake.

st. Petersburg, Dec. PA popular
anti-government demonstration, the
participants in which included the ar
guments Of students Of both sexes, be-
gan Sunday in the NeVsky prospect,
and lasted about two hours. Hundreds
of police and mounted gendarmes who
wer hidden in the court yard of the
public buildings, emerged suddenly,
and charged the crowd at full gallop,
driving the demonstrators in headlong
confusion and screaming with terror
upon the sidewalks and into adjacent
streets. This led to serious encount-
ers, so persons being more or less
severely injured. Large numbers were
arrested.
Not since the riots of 1901, when
Cossacks reached across the Neysli
prospect, from building to building and
charged down the boulevard from the
Moscow station to the Neva, has the
Russian capital lived through such
day of excitement as this. The author
tiles Saturday night got wind of the
U1S dnIl-SOfCIutlOllI
planned for Sunday by the social-dem-
ocratfc labor party te-demand an inn
mediate end of the war and the convo-
cation of a national assembly, and
leading every paper, Sunday morning,
in black-faced type, was an explicit
warning to the people, at their peril,
to desist from congregating in the
Nevshy prospect, near the Kazan ca
thedral. AS the same time, extensive
preparations were made to quell any
disturbance. The police on the Nevsly
prospect were sextupled, and the dvor-
niks, or house porters, were mar
shaled in front of their respective
mounted gendarmerie were massed in
the rear of the Kazan cathedral, and
batallions of reserved police were sta
toned in several court yards out Of
sight.
Warnings Not Needed.
The newspaper warnings, however,
by giving notice to those not apprised
of the prospect of a demonstration, de-
feated the very object for which they
were designed, attracting, seemingly,
the whole population of this vast city
to the broad thoroughfare; and long
before the, hour fixed, despite the
pleadings of the police, who literally
lined the sidewalks, the throngs on the
pavements were so dense that move
ment was almost impossible, while the
snow-covered boulevard was black
| with a tangled mass of sleighs filled
mostly with the curious.
| Towards one o'clock the workmen
and students seemed to swarm to-
ward the corner of Hotel Europe, op-
posite the Kazan cathedral. The po-
lice, recognizing that the critical mo-
ment was approaching, tried in vain to
keep back the human tide. Then,
when there was not a single mounted
policeman in sight, on the stroke Of
one, from the heart of the thickly-
wedged crowd a blood-red flag, like a
jet of flame. suddenly shot up. It was
the signal. Other flags appeared in
the crowd, waving frantically over
head and they were greeted with
hoarse roar, "Down with autocracy."
The students surged into the street,
singing the "Marsellaise," while in
nocent spectators, seeking to extricate
themselves, crowded into doorways
and Rugged walls.
Beat Back Police.
| Dismounted police made a single at
tempt to force their way into the
crowd to wrest the flags from the
| demonstrators, but the students and
workmen, armed with sticks, stood
| close, and beat back the assailants.
Then, like flash, from behind the
Kazan cathedral came a squadron of
court yards were thrown back, and
| batallions of police came out. A dou-
| BILE squadron charged the flank OF
| demonstrators with drawn sabres.
Five other squadrons circled the mob,
cutting through the fringe of specta-
tors, who gladly scHrried to cover. The
| main wedge of the demonstrators stood
fast only a moment or two. There
was sharp rattle of cudgels and sa-
bres, though the wounds showed the
police struck principally with the fiat
| Of their sabfes The women were
especially fierce in their resistance.
Many were struck and trampled, and
| blood streamed down their faces.
In the meantime, those confined in
the court yards, who were recognized
as agitators, were arrested, but others
were allowed to go quietly home, the
wounded first having their injuries
dressed. There were probably hun-
dred broken heads, and several were
severely wounded, though none fatal
ly, so far as ascertainable. So far there
have been over 100 arrests,