500 African students in Kiev protest

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33987, 30 October 1975, Page 17

500 African students in Kiev protest

(Xcw Zealand Press Association—Copyright) MOSCOW, October 29. Five hundred angry African students marched to the Czechoslovakian consulate in Kiev today to protest against alleged official attempts to break up the marriage of a Czechoslovak woman and a Nigerian man, a spokesman for the protesters said.

Student leaders presented; a petition to a consulate , o representative charging' ■d ■ Czechoslovakian authorities < with racial discrimination and: 'g violations of the human rights: provisions set down at the ;o recent European Security ts Conference in Helsinki. They demanded an explana-i ie tion by next Monday and said ’■ that all African students in d Kiev — about 800 — would, ■y strike until then, the spokes-1 r_ man said. y The demonstration was ■- organised after the Prague n’Govemment cancelled with-, ■- out explanation the scholari- ship of Alena Grulichova. a 23-year-nld philosophy studs'ent in Kiev. e Tn April, she married Udo yiUban, aged 29. a Nigerian ."s| student of international relad tions. :si According to the student: s. leaders, consular officials toldi

iMrs Üban to divorce her husband. The protesters said that They interpreted the scholarship cancellation as another 'attempt to end the marriage, i The spokesman said that :Mrs Üban has refused to return to Czechoslovakia, although her registration in The Soviet Union expires on | Thursday. They said that she had gone into hiding with friends in ■ the Ukranian capital. The protesters, ignoring a ■ request from Kiev University officials to call off their demonstration. marched peacefullv through the citv to the consulate. The building was ringed by police, but a five-man delegation was allowed inside. The spokesman said that the consular representative told the delegation that students should refrain from meddling in an internal Czechoslovak matter.