Rebels Had Planned To Bomb Palace

Press, Volume C, Issue 29669, 13 November 1961, Page 13

Rebels Had Planned To Bomb Palace

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, November 12. The rebels who hi-jacked a Portuguese airliner and dropped leaflets over Lisbon on Friday originally intended to bomb the Presidential palace, according to a report from Brazil. But the plan was abandoned because it was feared people not connected with the Government might be injured, the Portuguese refugee leader, Mr A. T. Machado, told the British United Press in Sao Paulo.

Mr Machado said a "great number” of heavily armed commandos were active in Portugal, preparing for a blow against the Government in the near future. Pamphlets calling for an uprising against -the Salazar regime circulated in Lisbon today as the country went to the polls. Hi-jackets Released It was reported from Tangier, Morocco, that police had released the five men and a woman who hi-jacked the airliner. The man said to be behind the hi-jacking—Captain Henrique Galvao—today denied that the six had asked for political asylum, said agencies. He said the group, aged from 18 to 27, had been allowed to leave police headquarters today and were somewhere in Tangier, hiding from the press under police surveillance. He said Morocco was a "free country” and the authorities had been "very understanding" adding "but we will all leave as soon as possible." Captain Galvao said the

seizing of the plane “went like clockwork.” “I would never touch any vessel or aircraft which was not Portuguese. I am only interested in them,” he said. He had planned the hijacking of the plane for seven weeks. After the incident, TA.P today cancelled flights between Lisbon and Casablanca until further notice. The opposition has withdrawn its candidates from today's poll, leaving the size of the poll as the only interest. AH the 130 candidates remaining belong to the Uniaco Nacional, the political organisation supporting the Government of Dr. Antonio Salazar, Prime Minister since 1932. Figures given recently by the Ministry of the Interior said there were 1.235,902 registered voters among the population of 8,568,271. Originally tere were 66 opposition candidates but one of them died and seven others, standing in Mozambique, were ruled ineligible by the Supreme Administration Court because they advocated self-determination for

Portuguese overseas territories. The others withdrew last week. Dr. Salazar has appealed for a “mass poll to corroborate a policy of national salvation."