Thirty Arrests in Students’ “Rag”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 868, 11 January 1930, Page 18

Thirty Arrests in Students’ “Rag”

POLICEMEN KNOCKED DOWN ! UNIVERSITY CITIES CELEBRATE NOVEMBER 5 Students in several university cities were involved in -wild Guy Fawkes rags on November 5. At Cambridge 30 arrests were made. The Market Square at Cambridge was thronged by 500 excited undergraduates who rushed about in groups, knocking off the .helmets of policemen and top-hats. Several policemen were knocked down and injured, and colleagues who went to their assistance were attacked and were forced to draw their truncheons in self-defence. Half-Mile of Vehicles Students of the City and Guilds College, South Kensington, organised a spectacular Guy Fawkes rag, which involved the West End in one of the worst traffic hold-ups for years. Dressed in a motley collection of clothes, ranging from dungarees to football kitSi the students, numbering about 150, set out from opposite the Albert Hall. The procession was headed by the college mascot, Boanerges, a 1902 sports car, on which was mounted a guy made up theoretically to represent a brown “bagger,” the college slang for a serious-minded student. Boanerges Collapses In addition some half a dozen “high priests” in white robes —actually sheets—were on the car. When Boanerges reached Knightsbridge the weight of its years and the burden it was carrying caused it to break down, and thereafter it had to be towed. With a string of omnibuses and taxis numbering several hundreds trailing behind, the procession reached Piccadilly Circus, where traffic was held up for some time during a further breakdown. Crowds of theatregoers watched the procession. Some of the students were disguised as skeletons, -while others wore quaint straw hats, Charlie Chaplin trousers and moustaches. Guy Burned The students had intended to burn the guy on one of the islands at Hyde Park Corner, but this idea was abandoned in view of police opposition. The guy was burned later on some waste ground in Prince Consort Road. At one time during the rag there was a continuous string of motorcars, taxis and omnibuses stretching from Hyde Park Corner to Piccadilly Circus, a distance of over half a mile. The vehicles were compelled to move forward at little more than a walking pace—the speed at which the procession moved. When the procession halted for a time in Piccadilly Circus traffic duty policemen hurried from all directions and ordered a speed-up. About 2,000 students gathered near Epstein’s “Night and Day” in Broadway, Westminster, many of them making facetious remarks about the figures. A strong force of police was on duty there, and the students were moved on.