Roman Catholics trapped by Lisbon group

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33874, 20 June 1975, Page 13

Roman Catholics trapped by Lisbon group

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright)

LISBON, June 19.

About 2000 Left-wing extremists howling “death to Fascism” early today kept dozens of Roman Catholic men, women, and children trapped in the palace of the Archbishop of Lisbon.

Troops surrounding the building with armoured cars fired several times into the air in efforts to drive back the demonstrators. One of the demonstrators’ leaders told the crowd that there were women and children inside — many of them injured after an earlier street brawi. But the crowd shouted! back: “Let the children out, but not the women — they are just as Fascist as the men.”

The Roman Catholics retreated into the palace, headquarters of the Roman Catholic church in Portugal, after their counter-demon-stration was routed by the left-wingers wielding iron bars and sticks and hurling large stones. STONES THROWN As the Left-wingers massed around the building, lobbing stones through the windows and brandishing fists, hospital sources said there were many injured people inside. But ambulances were unable to penetrate the throng. Eye-witnesses said that scores of people were injured last night when supporters of left-wing revolutionary workers fought a small group of Roman Catholics trying to hold a rival demonstration. The number of Church supporters waving white paper crosses was estimated at 300 as about 5000 leftwingers closed in on them from three sides.

The Left-wing demonstration was called by the Popular Democratic Union (U.D.P.) a small extreme group with one seat in the elected Constituent Assembly. It was supporting revolutionary workers who had occupied the Lisbon studios of the Roman Catholic radio, Renascenca. The Roman Catholic management of the radio said earlier this month that there

would be a Church-State split if Portugal’s Leftist military leaders did not evict the occupiers. The split appeared closer today after Roman Catholic bishops issued a statement containing their sharpest criticism so far of the country’s swing to the Left. MILITARY ACCUSED Their statement, published before the wild scenes at the Archbishop’s Palace, accused the military of promoting East Europe’s totalitarian regimes as model societies. They said a climate of personal insecurity, intimidation and anxiety over the future was paralysing authority. The bishops also comi plained that the Army was i condoning illegal arrests i made by political groups, iand said the country’s news media was becoming “monolithic”.

The Socialist Party, desperately struggling to stave off Communist domination r' the news media, announced last night that it backed the Church in its bid to regain control of Radio Renascenca. SOCIALIST ATTEMPT

Socialist sources said they were summoning their militants later this morning for a last-ditch attempt to gain entry — by force if necessary — to the “Republica” newspaper. Troops yesterday allowed the "Republica” offices to be occupied by Communist printers after firing into the air to force back a crowd of Socialists who tried to storm the building. The printers left the newspaper for the night while the Copcon internal security force,, a left-wing unit which champions all Military Revolutionary Government, stood guard. The Socialists last month twice threatened to resign from the coalition government over the “Republica” affair.