Moroccan Rioters Stone French Embassy

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

Moroccan Rioters Stone French Embassy

(N.Z. Preu Association—Copyright) RABAT (Morocco), November 11. A howling mob of rioters stoned the French Embassy in Rabat today, smashing windows and roaming through the building in an orgy of furnituresmashing and fire-lighting.

The rioters fought past heavy security forces, who used clubs, fire hoses and tear gas, and hoisted the green and white flag of the Algerian rebel “government” over the Embassy. Hundreds of rioters entered the Embassy through rear doors and service entrances while security forces and firemen were fighting demonstrators in front, the British United Press reported.

The riot began as a demonstration demanding freedom for Mohammed Ben Bella, the Algerian rebel leader under house arrest at Turquant, France. The French Ambassador (Mr Roger Seydoux) and his family were inside the Embassy building at the time of the attack, but were reported unharmed. A number of Embassy employees were reported injured, none seriously.

Rioters succeeded in setting fire to the gardens of the Embassy and also smashed up a Czech consulate office and overturned a car. They rioted through the French Embassy building for half an hour trying to start fires before leaving. In Paris, Mohammed Ben Bella was reported today to be in an extremely weak condition after 60 days of a hunger strike. Reports said he was refusing examinations and medical treatment. Ben Bella, the “deputy Prime Minister” in the Algerian rebel government, was captured by the French in 1956. About 4000 Algerians being held in France are also on hunger strikes, following Ben Bella’s example. Report Denied In Marseilles, a Gaullist Deputy today denied that President de Gaulle had told a closed meeting he planned to retire when the Algerian problem was ended, the Associated Press reported. Earlier, President de Gaulle had been quoted by other sources who attended a meeting of Senators and Deputies of the Bouches du Rhone district as having expressed the hope that the Algerian problem would be solved in six months. Then, he had said, he would step down from office. - The report was also published by the semi-official French News Agency. Later a Gaullist Deputy, Mr Pascel Marchetti, told reporters accompanying General de Gaulle on his tour of Corsica and southern France: “I absolutely dispute this declaration, which was not made by General de Gaulle.” Mr Marchetti said he had been "authorised” to make the statement. Two members of the Cabinet stood by as he spoke.

Reuter reported that sources close to the President tonight categorically denied that he had expressed himself in such terms. All he had done, they said, was to refer to various possibilities that would arise regarding his position if general elections are held next year after a settlement has been achieved in Algeria. One possibility was that in such a case he might consider resigning the presidency before his seven-year mandate expires in 1965, in order to obtain a mandate from the people endorsing his action in Algeria.