"the police were jammed against the wall..."
3-11 April 1932 - Dunedin Riots
The riots in Dunedin were the first of the 1932 Depression Riots that took place in the four main centres of New Zealand, and began in an attempt by the unemployed to demand relief. On the 9th of January 1932, a procession of unemployed, including a large number of women, had smashed windows in a grocery shop when the Dunedin Hospital Board officials refused their demands for food. Tension had been mounting since then as the situation grew worse and further riots broke out in April.
On the 3rd April, John A. Lee had foreshadowed violence in New Zealand, following the peoples’ responses to the government actions undertaken after the Depression grew worse in the county. He spoke to a crowd of around 7000 people and said there would be a “war against those who are trying to drag the people down to degradation and poverty. We are starving out way to prosperity in a world of plenty.” Others smashed windows of nearby shops. A mob gathered in the Botanical Gardens a few days later and rioted through the town. Women from a new branch of the UWM demanded food from the mayor’s relief depot, but the mayor insisted that food could only be given out on a case by case basis. Protestors grew angry at this and stoned the relief depot. More people gathered and dispersed, looting nearby shops and causing havoc. A group tried to break into the Hospital Board’s offices. They were controlled by police batons and in the following days and as shown by the article to the right, "the whole of the Dunedin police force had been ordered..." A number of UWM members were arrested and prosecuted. |