The disturbances in Paris, due to the strike which has
now spread to the waiters and hairdressers, have this week assumed very considerable dimensions. On Sunday, the well-known Communist General Endes, while speaking at a meeting held in favour of the strike, suddenly fell down in a fit of apoplexy, and died almost immediately. His funeral, which took place on Wednesday, was made the occasion for a great demonstration by the anarchists of Paris, a large number of persons, carrying red flags and wearing red favours, escorting the hearse to the cemetery. During the progress of the procession, two somewhat serious conflicts took place be- tween the police and the mob. At the Chateau d'Eau there was a charge of sergents de vile, supported by gendarmes, to seize the red flags and to cut the procession in two, which succeeded, though not till after a serious struggle, during which a revolver was fired from a window at one of the commissaries of police; while in the Boulevard Voltaire occurred a still more serious encounter, a bomb being thrown, and the police and gendarmes using their swords and bayonets against the loaded sticks of the crowd. By night, however, order was completely restored, the Government acting throughout with vigour and determina- tion. One incident of the day seems to have caused a con- siderable amount of amusement. M. Rochefort, while following the procession in a cab, perceived that a red flag was being hoisted close beside him. Against this he remon- strated, but was only answered by the indignant flag-bearer striking him on the head and shoulders with the staff, amid cries of " A bas Rochefort ! A bas in Dictature !" Ultimately, the anarchist in a frock-coat had to escape from the mob by ordering his cabman to drive down a side street.
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