CZECH ARRESTS CONTINUE

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25933, 13 October 1949, Page 5

CZECH ARRESTS CONTINUE

“ LARGER SCALE THAN EVER ” TOTAL NOW SAID TO BE 50,000 LONDON, October 11. Fresh arrests in Prague and other parts of Czechoslovakia were reported to-day on a larger scale than ever. Last night and early this morning security police went their rounds after a brief week-end lull. Evidence from first-hand sources indicates that the arrests have been going on for about five weeks. Reliable reports say that about 10,000 have been arrested in Prague and 40,000 throughout the country. Police vans have again called mainly at the homes of surviving members of the middle class, reinforcing the theory now held here that the arrests seek to destroy this group, regarded by the Communists as the most likely to contain hostile elements. The police refuse to give information to relatives, and the authorities have ignored invitations from foreign newspaper representatives for an explanation. In those cases where it has been possible to find some clue to the fate of those arrested it has been learned that they were transported almost immediately to forced labour camps. Many were warned when they were arrested to take heavy footwear and warm clothing. Prague and other towns affected by this major police action remain outwardly normal, except that by early evenings the streets are much less crowded than usual. Behind the apparent normality there is tension, and among the class of people concerned real anxiety and fear. “The arrests and dismissals in Czechoslovakia are generally regarded as an effort to cow the middle-class intelligentsia and indeed all classes at a time of rising discontent.” says the diplomatic correspondent of “The Times.” “It is believed that those arrested have been systematically grilled. “Besides its general aim of defeating the underground movement ‘he Prague Government may have had in mind the possibility of an impending split in the Czech Communist Party. “There are no reports of any special effects of the purge in the country generally, but it may be expected to stimulate the flow of refugees to other countries.”