SPEECH BY MR PELLA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 11

SPEECH BY MR PELLA

Inquiry Demanded Into Shooting LONDON, November 8. The Italian Prime Minister (Mr Guiseppe Pella) tonight demanded an inquiry into the shooting by the police in Trieste last week and the punishment for those responsible for the deaths of six Italian demonstrators. Mr Pella, who was broadcasting to “Trieste and all Italians,” over the Italian radio network, appealed to the Free Territory and to Italy for calm. Mr Pella condemned tne Britishcommanded police in Trieste for firing on ‘‘unarmed schoolboys,” and said the entire Italian nation joined in spirit with the funeral procession which followed the. bodies of the victims today. Mr Pella said that efforts had been made to spread a version of what happened m Trieste on November 5 and 6, which was “in absolute contrast with the documented facts.”

In an apparent reference to General Sir John Winterton, the British commander in Trieste, he declared: “1

must affirm that the origin of what happened on those two tragic days lies in the lacle of understanding of those who, invested, on the spot with the most delicate responsibilities, were unaware that this phase of transition demanded very different methods of behaviour.” He protested against General Winterton’s confiscation of the Italian flag which the Mayor of Trieste unfurled from the City Hall the day before the rioting began—the anniversary of Italy’s 1918 armistice.

“How can it be imagined that when the entire city is beflagged—and in remembrance of a great common victory —the First Magistrate of the city should accept that his municipality should remain outside the manifestation?" he said.

Actions of Police The Prime Miniver asked whether it could possibly be admitted that the police should first charge with batons against students protesting against this confiscation, penetrating even into a church, and then open fire 1 on an unarmed crowd. “Never before has there been seen in a democratic country the police opening fire without For this reason we demand that an inquiry establishing the responsibility . should be made,” he said. Mr Pella said that “the entire nation ioins in the spirit of the immense funeral procession which accompanied to their last resting place the innocent victims of the two tragic days. Their names join the scroll of heroes who have shed their blood so that Italy might obtain its just frontiers.” The Prime Minister said he had repeatedly told the representatives of the United States. Britain, and France that in the problem of Trieste “time works for no-one—neither for Italy nor for the cause of peace. The dead of Trieste have furnished clear proof of this by their blood.”