KING FAILS TO HALT BELGIAN STRIKES

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 13

KING FAILS TO HALT BELGIAN STRIKES

Socialists Reject Premier’s Compromise Offer (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) BRUSSELS, December 30. King Baudouin’s sudden return to Brussels last ' night has apparently done nothing towards abating the Belgian strike wave and anti-riot squads braced themselves today for still another day of disorders.

The General Workers’ Federation called on members to assemble in front of the Socialist Party headquarters today after serious clashes with the police yesterday, during which sabre charges were made. The Prime Minister, Mr Gaston Eyskens, whose austerity programme has caused the strikes, conferred with the King last night. Earlier he told Socialist leaders he would refer back the Austerity Bill to discuss possible amendments, but only after the end of a general debate. The Socialists rejected the offer.

King Baudouin was booed when he arrived in Brussels after cutting short his Spanish honeymoon. The strikers claimed the presence of the King as a victory, and a bitter loss of face for the Government. Many expressed the belief that the Government would now have to resign to end the strikes which have nearly paralysed the country for the last 11 days. Workers in the electric power and gas works warned the Government that they might shut down more stations and reduce output still further. They said the Eyskens Government was being “too lenient” on consumers and said the Government should order less consumption in homes and factories that still were running and in shops. The power reduction has thrown many of Belgium’s cities, including Brussels, into a wintry, melancholy gloom. Only half of the street lights are on in many districts. Restaurants and stores are using candles for illumination. Shop windows are generally unlit.

The worst acts of violence so far in the demonstrations against the Government’s austerity programme occurred yesterday. In Brussels more the 15,000 demonstrators marched through the streets.

For more than four hours they tied up the heart of the capital, smashed dozens of shop and bank windows, wrecked a bus, and set a van alight. There was no loss of life. At one point demonstrators were scattered by mounted police with drawn sabres. At another they fled before heavily-armecl police backed up by two powerful water cannons. Several times police were stoned. Many of the marchers came from the provinces, particularly from Ghent. Women marched with the men, chanting in rhythm. “Eyskens to the gallows.”

A Socialist delegation handed a manifesto to the Prime Minister, asking for the withdrawal of the austerity measures. The manifesto denied that the strikers were political, and said the workers were "struggling for their rights.” Mr Eyskens told the delegation he was prepared to refer the austerity bill back to the Parliamentary committees “to discuss possible amendments.” But he was prepared to do so only after the end of the general debate on the matter. The debate is due

to be resumed-.next Tuesday. The Socialist envoys replied that they feared ‘‘a simple referring back of the bill to Parliamentary committees after the completion of the general debate would not appease the workers.” Observers said Mr Eyskens’s offer to consider amendments to the bill represented a concession. But they felt that it could no longer lead to a compromise, because passions among opponents of the bill are running too high to accept a compromise Parliamentary procedure instead of their clear-cut demand for the withdrawal of the bill. The avowed aim of the Socialists was the resignation of the Catholic-Liberal Government—-

not a new lease to give him time to get through some form of compromise. While the demonstrations were going on, the Minister of Public Administration, Mr Pierre Harmel, was claiming at a press conference that the general situation showed an improvement, except at the big port of Antwerp, where the strike had been extended. He said that some 2000 to 2400 Belgian soldiers had been recalled from N.A.T.O. units in Western Germany. They were guarding Government buildings and property. More trains were moving, but rural transport, noticeably in the North Seas coastal area, was badly hit.