FASCIST SHOOTS DOWN YOUNG COMMUNIST IN LONDON
Tony Bloom, 23, a member of the Young Communist League, was shot in the stomach while standing.on the pavement with a group of his comrades outside a pub in the St. Pancras area of London at closing time January 29.
The man charged with ‘the attempted murder,‘ Ronald Antioni Gaston Tielemans, a4, an electronics engineer, was part of a group which had given the Nazi salute some minutes before inside the: public house.
Besides Thielemans, police arrested Arthur Roy Smith, a4, a laboratory technician, and Edward Michael Groves, .24, unemployed. Smith and Groves were charged with unlawful possession of arms. Smith is: accused of having 492 rounds of ammunition, seven revolvers, four automatic pistols, three rifles, one rifle in three parts and one rifle action. Groves is accused of having 498 rounds of ammunition three rifles, one revolver and one automatic pistol.
As reported by the London press, Tony Bloom was with a group of friends’ in "The Dolphin." It was there that they first encountered the fascists.
Robin Wolfenden, 21, an engineering student.and friend of Tony bloom, deseribea the attack and the incidents leading up to it as follows, according to the January. aa ‘Evening Standard: :
"Four chaps and a girl came into the pub and -we started arguing politics with them. At closing time, the blokes stood up and gave a Nazi salute.
"The argument went on outside the pub and I saw a gun being waved in the face of one of our crowd."
The two groups separated and the fascists got into their automobile and drove off.
"We stood around chatting on the pavement," Wolfenden continued. "The van came along the street and as it drew near us an arm came out of the window holding the gun. Four shots were fired. Tony ~- standing only a foot away from me -~ fell to the pavement. ;
as don't snow how they missed me. It was a miracle I wasn't bit."
Police later located the Morris station wagon and chased it. As they closed in, they were fired at. The police confiscated a Mauser automatic pistol when they made the arrests. .
The January 31 Morning Star, the Communist daily, reported that Tony Bloom was recovering after a difficult operation to remove the.-bullet from his stomach. It had passed through his spleen. A few inches higher and it would have hit his heart.
"A member of the Young Communist League for five years," said the Morning Star, "Tony works. as a messenger at.the Sun newspaper. He is Lambeth branch treasurer of the Y¥.C.L., a chapel official of his union (Sogat) and an active supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament." His parents, John and Millie Bloom, -have been members (of the Communist party since the thirties. ; Messages can be sent to Tony Bloom at Ward 13, University College Hospital, Gower Street, London, W.C.1.
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