RIOTS AT BOLOGNA. FIGHT IN THE TOWN HALL

BOMBS FROM A BALCONY.

BOLOGNA Town Hall was the scene of a big Socialist gathering yesterday for the ceremony of installing a new Mayor and Socialist majority just elected by the extreme Bolshevik wing. The affair led to a conflict with the Nationalist and patriotic elements, that gave rise to riotous scenes inside and outside the hall, wild shooting and bombthrowing ending in a list of eight killed and sixty wounded. The new Mayor and councillors were elected, perhaps with unconscious irony, by the Socialist group which calls itself the group of “Peace, Labour, and Liberty.” The town was placarded yesterday morning with many red posters calling on the entire proletariat of Bologna to assemble in the square before the Town Hall and honour the installation of the first Bolshevik Mayor of Bologna. The patriotic and Nationalist group refused to be bullied by the Bolshevik gang, and organised a counter-demonstration, notifying the Bolsheviks that if the red flag was hoisted anywhere else but on the Town Hall they would intervene and blood would flow. Most houses, in fact, as a protest by the inhabitants, were decorated with the national flag.

At three o’clock a big crowd was assembled in the square fronting the Town Hall. Many of them were youths of 18 or 20, gathered from the suburbs and rural districts round about, and spoiling for a revolution. The Nationalist organisation of Arditi, however, had also called together their adherents and assembled in their club rooms ready to rush out and defend the national flag. The local Socialist leader, Bortolotti, opened the proceedings in the Town Hall by welcoming the newlyelected Socialist Councillors. The election of the Mayor was then undertaken, and, as had been foreseen, the Bolshevik majority gave their unanimous vote for Ennio Guidi, a prominent railwayman and leader in many a strike. Guidi made what he considered a moderate speech, namely, that the moderate Socialists would not be persecuted, and these replied with somewhat similar declarations. So far things might have passed quietly, but outside the Bolshevik enthusiasts, not content with hoisting the red flag over the Town Hall, also hoisted an immense red banner over one of the historic towers of Bologna, known as the Torre degli Assinelli. This was too much for the Nationalists, and a resolute group of Nationalist braves, or Arditi, started out from their club to pull down the flag. They had succeeded in scaling the old tower, and were about to haul down the flag when the first shots were heard. This gave rise to a series of tumults and pitched battles, of which only confused accounts are to hand. The excitement evidently penetrated into the Town Hall, where the Bolshevik and moderate councillors were already in violent conflict with each other.

Someone dropped a bomb from the balcony of the Town Hall, which exploded below and killed five persons outright, wounding many others. Several other bombs were thrown into the square. There was a panic among the public, who ran helter-skelter, and furious encounters occurred between the Arditi and the Socialists “braves”. Inside the old Town Hall violent scenes of bloodshed and brutality followed. The minority councillors were about to leave the hall, following those of the Bolshevik majority, when some wild Bolsheviks entered and brandished revolvers, firing indiscriminately. The guards tried to approach them, and the public and some of the reporters took refuge under the benches against the flying bullets, when one of the most excited intruders climbed over a railing and fired point-blank five shots at the lawyer Giordani, one of the minority councillors. The lawyer Colliva was hit by a bullet and dangerously wounded. Finally, a third minority lawyer. De Plagi, was wounded by a bullet.

The minority councillors then formed a compact group, shouting at their aggressors and calling them cowards and murderers for attacking men without arms. One of them, the lawyer Oviglio, threw a pistol down on his desk and then shouted at the Bolsheviks, “Fire and kill us, cowards that you are to attack men without defence.” They fired, in fact, four shots at him, none of which hit. Outside the Town Hall, still more savage encounters took place. For half an hour the square was like a regular battlefield. Carabinieri and Royal Guards, who had been called out in great numbers, had tried in vain to prevent the hostile groups meeting. They were simply overwhelmed, but succeeded at last in surrounding the municipal building and cornering about 400 young Bolshevik roughs, most of whom were armed. Fifty of them were arrested. Gradually the combatants were scattered. A search made by the police in the Town Hall revealed a large stock of hand bombs, revolvers, daggers, knives, and quantities of ammunition. The desks and benches of the minority Socialists are riddled with a bullet holes. Five Royal Guards were wounded. In the evening, the city again became quiet.