§ 59. Mr. K. Robinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the disturbances in St. Pancras on 21st and 22nd September.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerIn the evening of 21st September a crowd gathered outside St. Pancras Town Hall, where a meeting of the Borough Council was being held. At first the crowd was orderly and good-humoured, but after some time a rowdy procession around the town hall began and when the marchers were stopped by the police they sat or lay down in the roadway and the shouting of offensive and inflammatory remarks became widespread. To prevent an attempt to force a mass entry into the town hall the demonstrators were cleared from the immediate vicinity by the police, and in the course of this operation eleven persons were arrested.
On the morning of 22nd September police were present to prevent breaches of the peace while court orders for the possession of two flats occupied by tenants of the St. Pancras Borough Council were being enforced. No serious incident involving the police occurred during the evictions, but in the course of attempts made later in the day to force police cordons 16 persons were arrested.
In the evening a procession of about 1,000 persons moved in the direction of the town hall. Many hooligans and other troublemakers joined the procession and attempts made by the organisers to bring it to a halt failed. The police barred the way to the town hall, and in action taken to disperse the demonstrators 37 persons were arrested and two members of the public and 16 police officers are known to have received injuries.