Auckland Riot
The most severe of the riots occurred in Auckland in 1932, when tensions erupted into violence outside a meeting at the town hall.
In April of 1932 a daytime protest was held in response to the conditions in work camps and the ongoing wage cuts. The following evening a meeting was held at the town hall to discuss the situation. People arrived from all over Auckland. An estimated 20,000 people turned up to the meeting, while the town hall could only hold 3000. Police shut the doors when the venue was filed to capacity, fueling the frustration of those outside. As tensions increased, Jim Edwards, who was a key member of the Unemployed Worker's Movement, approached the crowd. When he rose to speak he was struck on the head by a policeman's baton, who thought that the scene was getting out of control. The crowd flared up as the message spread that Jim Edwards had been killed, which wasn't true, and erupted into violence. As stated by Edwards in Break Down These Bars "Now the mob was infuriated...by the unprovoked attack launched by the police". A riot ensued as "mob psychology" took over. Police acted with batons, while the crowd responded to this using palings taken from the Scrimgeour's Church in Airedale Street. The crowd surged up Queen Street, smashing shop windows before looting the stores. Mounted police and Specials were brought in to control the violence. Edwards says, "Heads were being cracked with batons, mounted police were riding among the maddened crowd". Hundreds of people were injured during the riots, many of which required hospitalization. A quote from the Evening Post on 15 April 1932 describes the scene, "It was a startling instance of the mob impulse and lawlessness and abandon that is bred of contagion". The article continues to say that the police were significantly outnumbered and that a naval detachment were deployed from the Naval Base. The riots continued the following night on Karangahape Road. Increased police and defence units had been brought in from the Waikato, and 1000 Specials had been recruited by the Auckland mayor, George Hutchison. However, despite the heavy reinforcements, the authorities were unable to prevent the violence from occurring that night. In fact, the Specials were the people that initiated some of the violence, rather than containing it. The video above is the story of the Auckland protests from the point of view of James Edwards, the son of Jim Edwards, who was thirteen at the time.
Source: NZ On Screen; Our People, Our Century (2000) |
"Hallelujah I'm a bum Above is the chant that the marchers sang.
“The rioting in Auckland first occurred on Thursday evening last when hundreds of people participated in unrestrained rioting and looting in Queen St for more than two hours. There was fierce fighting between a section of the rioters and police and many were injured. Protective forces were organised as soon as possible and by Friday evening nearly 1200 special constables had been enrolled from the public.” The Weekly News, 20 April 1932
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