Sir Oswald & Lady Mosley visit Hobbs End.
Terrible Scenes, Many Injured, Police Attacked.
A surprise visit by Sir Oswald & Lady Mosley caused much consternation in Hobbs End yesterday, Park Road and Hobbs Park were filled with Blackshirts from all over the East End. Sir Oswald and his men have been constantly denied the use of Hobbs Hall, however, no one can stop him posing for the camera outside of the building.
Local opposition quickly mobilised, street meetings were convened and a march against Mosley was created in the High Street, mounted police were on the scene in minutes.
With the march being halted on the High Street tensions were rising, some anti Fascists made it through to Station Road and made their way towards Hobbs Park and a line of police.
In the park the Sir Oswald was addressing the crowd, the loud cheers almost drowning out the sound of opposition as the crowd in Station Road drew near. Suddenly in High Street fighting broke out, the mounted police cracked heads left and right.
The fighting in the High Street was over quite quickly, resulting in one policeman needing medical treatment and several arrests. A few of the Communists broke through the police line and headed towards the park to disrupt the Fascist meeting. On Station Road there was considerable pushing and shoving between the police and protesters, violence was imminent.
In the blink of an eye fists, clubs and truncheons flew into action, Station Road became a mass of fighting men lashing out at one another, from Drovers Yard Police Station reinforcements were on their way. In the park Mosley was still engaging with his followers, saying how great it was to be back in Hobbs End and what a superb job the local branch was doing, at this point a surprise attack by a group of Communists made him stop mid sentence.
Station Road soon resembled a battlefield, protesters and police knocked to the ground in a vicious fight, in Hobbs Park the Communists were soon confronted by a pack of Blackshirts and were hopelessly outnumbered, it was a brave but foolhardy act on their behalf.
Unsurprisingly the Communists were soon beaten out of the park, from the Station Road entrance several of the protestors had broken through the police line and attacked the Blackshirts one of whom was wounded with a knife. Police reinforcements from Drovers Yard and the High Street stopped the riot soon after and multiple arrests were made.
The cells at Drovers Yard will be full to bursting tonight, the hospitals will be incredibly busy too, in all 18 Communists were arrested, 6 remain in hospital, 1 Fascist is still in hospital, 6 policemen are in hospital and a police horse has a serious razor cut, but will pull through. With the end of hostilities Mosley carried on his address to his followers declaring how much he liked Hobbs End, never a dull moment apparently!
