RUSSIANS TIGHTEN GRIP ON PRAGUE

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 1

RUSSIANS TIGHTEN GRIP ON PRAGUE

Firing Begins 15 Minutes

Before Curfew

(N Z.P A-Reuter —Copyright)

PRAGUE, August 26. Wenceslas Square shook to the heavy thump of tank cannons and the rattle of machine*guns overnight. Fresh Russian units, moved in to replace the first wave of invasion troops, opened fire as the last stragglers headed out of the square for home 15 minutes before curfew.

Thousands of bullets whined over the rooftops cutting red tracer patterns into

the night sky.

Throughout yesterday, as talks between Czechoslovak leaders and the Russians dragged on in Moscow, Soviet troops tightened their grip on Prague and displayed a greater readiness to open fire in the streets.

The National Assembly continued to meet in emergency session under the muzzle of Russian guns. A clandestine radio said the Government bad asked President Svoboda to consider returning from Moscow immediately because of the deteriorating situation. Deaths Reported Unconfirmed reports said Russian troops had shot dead three youths and a girl found sticking up anti-Russian posters. Several times shots were fired over crowds gathered in Wenceslas Square—once to rescue a man said to be a collaborator. The Russians continued to rip down posters supporting the Czechoslovak Communist partv leader, Mr Alexander Dubcek. Young Czechoslovaks followed them pasting up new ones. Soviet armoured cars toured the streets attempting to distribute a proclamation asking for co-operation. A woman burst into tears as her husband was forced to accept a pamphlet at gun point. He walked 20 yards from the Russians and threw it away. When armoured cars entered Wenceslas Square and a Soviet officer shouted propaganda messages through a megaphone his voice was drowned by thunderous whistling and jeering from the crowd. Car Horns Blare Car horns blared in derision and many people turned their backs as a sign of contempt United Press International reported that Russian loudspeakers blared out: “We are here as your friends.” The streets of Prague bristled with Soviet weapons. Some suburban areas were almost deserted. Scarcely a car was moving on any street. Buses were running in the centre of the town. Many citizens of Prague were confused about how the situation would develop. They spoke of the possibility of an oppressive Government after the occupation. Travellers reaching Prague from Poland said citizens outside the capital were refusing to give Soviet soldiers food, water or fuel unless forced to do so at gunpoint. Some travellers said several Czechoslovaks told them that Russians had beaten citizens for resisting the occupation.

An N.Z.P.A.-Reuter correspondent, lan Macdowall, last night visited Prague police

headquarters and ambulance centres where he saw vehicles alleged to have been shot up by Russian tanks.

Police Reports

Police told him 15 people were known to have died and hundreds had been wounded in street shootings during the last five days. Czech free radio stations continued to broadcast. One free radio report said some occupation forces—without food for four days—were looting in some areas. Radio Gottwaldov said Soviet troops had killed three people with machine-gun fire in Prostejov. In Bucovice. the radio said, children had fired toy pistols at the occupiers who had returned the fire with live ammunition. “We urgently appeal to all parents to destroy such toys,” the radio said.

In a long analysis of the

situation in the country,

Radio Czechoslovakia hinted at the possibility of some form of compromise to solve the crisis.

“Be it as it may, we should prepare ourselves for a certain compromise, unless we want the alternative to be a

lasting occupation, a wave of arrests and more dead in our country,” the radio said.

United Press International reported from Vienna that the Central Committee of the Slovak Communist Party ruled out any move toward creation of a separate Slovak State yesterday, according to clandestine broadcasts from Czechoslovakia.

Some analysts of East European affairs said there were indications that Mr Vasil Bilak, First Secretary of the Slovak Party, was planning such a move toward independence.

Mr Bilak, a rival of the Czechoslovak Communist Party First Secretary, Mr Dubcek, was participating in the talks with Soviet leaders in Moscow. United States sources said heat from an incinerator set light to part of the United States Embassy roof in Prague. The sources said the outbreak had no connection

with shooting in the area