Liverpool was the scene of a violent riot on Sunday.
A great mass meeting attended by 70,000 people was being held in the square before St. George's Hall, Mr. Tom Mann being the principal speaker, and order was maintained until late in the afternoon, when a chance scuffle with some hooligans on the outskirts of the crowd provoked a violent hand-to-hand fight with the police, and for fifteen minutes the square became something like a battlefield. The police are accused of using their truncheons with unnecessary violence and batoning innocent people, but once the fighting began dis- crimination was impossible ; they were attacked with the utmost savagery, and the casualties showed that they suffered more than the crowd. As soon as the square was comparatively clear—we quote from the Manchester Guardian's report—" the ground could be seen bespattered with blood ;:uprooted shrubs, iron hoops, glass bottles shattered into small fragments, big heavy clubs, bricks, stones, and even iron bars were strewn everywhere." The Riot Act was then read, and the square having been cleared the police, followed by the Royal Warwickshires with loaded rifles at the double, drove the remainder of the rioters from an adjoining street. - Previous to the rioting Mr. Mann had declared that the Strike Committee had decided to send an ultimatum to all the railway companies threatening a general strike of all transport men of all classes if their demands were ignored or rejected.
