Libya berates U.K., backs I.R.A.

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 4

Libya berates U.K., backs I.R.A.

NZPA-Reuter London A Libyan magazine said yesterday that the Libyan Sle would undoubtedly e at Britain and form an alliance with the Irish Republican Army. An editorial in the magazine, “Green March,” broadcast by Libyan radio and monitored by the 8.8. C. said that people’s committees in Libya had decided to inflict loss on colonialist countries.

“As Britain was one of these colonialist countries with which the Arab nation has an old score to settle, the painful blows of the ale’s committee will untedly be struck against it,” “Green March” said.

The editorial was broadcast early yesterday but did not mention the severance of diplomatic relations by Britain.

The weekly magazine, regarded as reflecting the

ideology of the Libyan leadership, said:

“Britain is responsible for the tragedies, catastrophes and sectarian sedition which have afflicted the Arab homeland from the beginning of this century until now. Britain, which has perpetrated all these crimes, is perpetrating another now in front of the world. It is pursuing, hunting down and oppressing Libyan students in Britain, who number around 4000.

“Criminals, the police, and stray dogs, who have been mobilised by British and United States intelligence, have been set on them ...”

“Green March” said that the people’s committees would form an alliance with the I.R.A. because those guerrillas were championing the cause of the Irish nation from “the tyranny of British colonialism.”

“The people’s committees will open branches for the I.R.A. in all Libyan towns, and if Britain attempts to use any means of pressuring and oppressing Libyans, the revolutionary committees will enable the I.R.A. to do whatever they wish in Britain and retaliate twice as strongly,” it said. The magazine said the siege at the Libyan People’s Bureau in London followed a United States-British alliance against the Libyan people. “Since women do not do anything without consulting their husbands, it was natural that Thatcher ...

should behave according to United States cowboy Reagan’s counsel and orders.” “Green March” said the existence of the bureau in the heart of London undoubtedly irritated the British authorities. It warned against any “attempt to invade Libyan territory.”