RUTHLESSLY SHOT DOWN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 656, 7 May 1929, Page 1

RUTHLESSLY SHOT DOWN

New Zealander’s Death BRITISH CALL FOR AN INQUIRY “TTHE police were shooting down the Hermannstras.se at 1 regular intervals. ... I noticed a man who was walking alone stagger and fall. He lay for -0 minutes before the police troubled to pick him up.'* So an eye-witness describes the death of Charles E. Mackay, the New Zealander who was killed in Berlin. The British Embassy has called for an inquiry, and the German Foreign Minister has sent a message of sympathy to the dead man’s relatives.

(United I*.A.— By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and A'Z. Prcsz Association) (United Service)

Reed. 9.35 a.m. BERLIN, Monday. The state of siege lias ended. The police raided the Communist headquarters and seized a mass of literature, and also suppressed the “Red Front” organisations of Prussia and Bavaria. The inquest on Charles B. Mackay, the New Zealander who was killed, merely disclosed that he was killed by a bullet in the abdomen. The bullet was not traced. The British Embassy has requested a full and. impartial inquiry into the cause of death. It is officially explained that Mr. Mackay entered the danger zone despite police warnings, and that he did so at his own risk. The Foreign Minister, Dr. Gustav Stresemann, has sent a message of sympathy to Mr. Mackay’s relatives.

j A later message says: It now ap- | pears that Mr. Mackay w as shot by the J police for not the slightest reason. ! A taxi-driver says he saw the police shooting down the Hermanstrasse at I regular intervals, but nobody was in the street. He added: *‘l saw a man who was walking alone stagger and fall. He lay for 20 minutes before the police troubled to pick him up and send him to the dressing station. I discovered from the photographs that the man was Mackay.” The papers emphasise the fact that only one policeman was wounded in the hand, although it was supposed that the police were heavily fired on. This leads the people to wonder whether any shots were fired throughout the riot, except by the police.