DISORDER IN ITALY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 247, 29 July 1943, Page 3

DISORDER IN ITALY

SOME BLOODSHED IN MILAN. ANGER AGAINST FASCISM. WARNING BY THE MILITARY (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 10.55 a.m.) LONDON, July 28. An indication that all is not well in the big industrial city of Milan came in a broadcast from Rome to-night. It said that the military commander in Milan had threatened with ruthless punishment anyone found trying to disturb the peace. The radio also reminded the people of Milan that groups of more than three persons would bo fired on withcut warning. The military authorities have taken over the tramway system. A commentator on the German radio home service admitted that the German people were very anxious to know what was going on inside Italy at the present moment, and also whether the German Government would do anything about the situation. ' Another commentator said that the German leaders were silent so as not to give the Allies information of their next move. —British Official Wireless. Angry” demonstrations against Mussolini, Fascism, and the Germans are reported from end to end of Italy. The Berne correspondent of the “New York Times” says: “Four Fascist leaders, including a party secretary, were killed and three were taken to hospital during demonstrations in Milan on Monday. Two demonstrators were killed and 22 were admitted to hospital when soldiers machine-gunned a crowd storming the party secretary’s home. The Swiss radio reports that crowds were still thronging the streets of Milan last night, waving huge red flags and carrying banners attacking Mussolini, and sining anti-German songs. All the signs of the Fascist regime have been removed. A “Daily Telegraph” correspondent somewhere in Europe cables that crowds in Rome stormed the Palazzo Venezia, shouting insults about Mussolini and other Fascist leaders. Crowds looted luxurious villas belongbig to Fascist leaders in the Como area, in northern Italy. Como is ex* tensively beflagged, and Garibaldi’s monument is covered with flowers. Bands played and the people danced in the streets. Long processions of demonstrators marched through the streets of Trfi este throughout the day carrying tricolour badges patriotically inscribed. Similar demonstrations occurred at. Brindisi, Florence, Bologna, and Modena. In some parts of Italy crowds assaulted former Fascist leaders, and forced them to remove their party badges and black shirts. Many prominent Fascists are under protective arrest. Large numbers of travellers from Italy, mostly Swiss subjects, are pouring into Switzerland. According to an eye-witness who had just arrived in Switzerland from Milan, air raid sirens had to be sounded in the city yesterday as the only possible means of clearing the streets, where delirious crowds were attacking everything and everybody reminiscent of Fascism. The Stefani (Italian) News Agency says that reports from towns throughout Italy show that the change in' regime has in no way affected public order. Everywhere life is proceeding in an entirely normal way. All shops are open, public services are function* ing as usual, and plants and factories are working to full production. “The demonstrations that occurred on Monday morning to extol the King Emperor and the new regime did not give rise to any incidents,” it was stated. “They took place in an atmosphere of high patriotism. Italian life is entering on a phase of new and greater activity.” The Rome radio announced that banners and streamers bearing the words “Long Live Free Italy” were carried on Monday through the streets of Rome by thousands of people. The King was greeted by a tremendous ovation when he appeared at a winodw of the Quirinal.