Battle of Ballantyne Pier - The Battle

The Battle

On 18 June 1935, about 1000 protesters, consisting of striking longshoremen and their supporters, marched towards the Heatley Street entrance to Ballantyne Pier, where strikebreakers were unloading ships in the harbour.

Unlike earlier waterfront strikes, longshoremen were prevented from picketing the docks to discourage strikebreaking, and claimed that they were going to go en masse to talk to the non-union workers. They were led by Victoria Cross recipient Mickey O'Rourke and a contingent of First World War veterans and marched behind a Union Jack flag, to great symbolic effect. At the entrance to the pier, they were met by Chief Constable Colonel W. W. Foster, who warned the demonstrators that they would not be permitted to proceed. When they refused to turn back, protesters were attacked with clubs by the police guarding the pier. Within minutes, more police joined in the fight. In addition to the Vancouver city police, contingents from the British Columbia Provincial Police, who had been hiding behind boxcars, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, engaged with demonstrators. The police chased the dispersing crowd, continuing to club people even as they fled and fired tear gas. Many protesters fought back, throwing rocks and other projectiles at the police, while others that were attacked were simply trying to flee the scene. The ensuing melee continued for three hours and spread throughout the nearby residential district. Several people, both police and protesters, were hospitalized as a result of the riot, and one bystander was shot in the back of his legs by a police shotgun. Offices of Communist organizers and the longshoremen's union were also raided, with tear gas shot through the windows to drive out any occupants before the police entered. Strike supporters set up a makeshift hospital at the Ukrainian Hall, and the police did the same for their wounded at the Coroner's Court on Cordova Street. In total, 28 out of the 60 injured were hospitalized and 24 men were arrested. Mayor Gerry McGeer declared that striking longshoremen would no longer be eligible for relief payments for themselves or their families.