PARIS POLICE FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 192, 15 August 1941, Page 7

PARIS POLICE FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS

ANGRY CROWDS

U.S. May Commission French Ships Tied Up

t iiited l'rcss Association.—Copyright

Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 14

Paris newspapers reveal that the police yesterday fired on demonstrators at St. Denis, near Paris. They wounded some and arrested 16 at the main railway station, Avhere the outbreak began among workers of the suburb.

It is expected that the United States Maritime Commission will shortly requisition French ships tied up in American ports as the first move indicating the attitude of the United States towards Frence's new alignment with Germany, says the Journal of Commerce. Eleven French ships, including the luxury liner Normandie, are tied up at various United States ports.

Darlan, broadcasting from Vichy, to French land, sea and air forces, and to the colonies, appealed for support for Petain's programme, and said, "The sacrifice of those members of the three forces killed is not in vain. France can now be re-born. The nation's defeat cannot harm the morale of men whose bravery the enemy recognised at Narvik and Dunkirk and more recently in Syria. Defeat must not lead to despair, but to meditation on past faults, with a view to averting tneir repetition. Honour and discipline are Marshal Petain's guide and must also be ours."

Vichy .Moves Awaited

The Times correspondent on the French frontier says Darlan has obtained nominal power sufficient to satisfy all German military demands without even securing the endorsement of the Cabinet. There are profound misgivings that Vichy's next step will probably provoke an international crisis of the very first magnitude.

The French people would rejoice if the United States recognised General de Gaulle. It is assumed that Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt have agreed on joint action should Darlan complete France's betrayal. Commentators agree that active military co-operation between Vichy and Berlin would leave all of France to be dealt with by Britain. Millions of Frenchmen would be grateful and unafraid, in spite of the consequent loss of French lives.

Conspiracy In The Air

The Daily Telegraph correspondent, Eustace Wareing, says travellers reveal that conspiracy is in the air in France. Furtive talks proceed in the cafes of Marseilles and at least three are raided by the police every night.

Occupied and unoccupied France have almost become different countries. The northerners do not share the hopelessness of many southerners. France has become very much like Italy, with a new hooligan party .embodying ideals which the public does not share.

The Vichy news agency says Petain has become the supreme judge of M. Daladier, former Prime Minister, and the other notabilities arrested by the Vichy regime. The new Council of Political Justice will not supersede the Court of Riom. but will enable Petain to take rapid action against the authors of the French "disaster" before the Court of Riom gives its official judgment.

Based On Foreign Bayonets

Petain is not empowered to* impose the death penalty, but his decision will not preclude the subsequent imposition of the Court's findings. The diplomatic correspondent of The Times says Petain and his colleagues are creating a police State based on foreign bayonets to suppress critics of further betrayals and to protect themselves against popular upheaval.

In a leading article The Times says Petain's broadcast marked the lowest stage yet reached in the abasement of France. It remains to be seen what Weygand will do if he is ordered to provide facilities for Axis penetration of French Africa. That is the question on which the future of France depends.