Squatters force embassy closing

Press, 6 October 1984, Page 10

Squatters force embassy closing

NZPA-Reuter Bonn West Germany, urging East Germans not to use its diplomatic missions as exits to the West, has temporarily closed the doors of its embassy in Prague, where about 40 refugees have been camped for at least a week. “The Government appeals to people in East Germany who want to come to us not to try to extort exit visas by occupying West German

missions. This is not the proper way,” the Government’s chief spokesman, Peter Boenisch, said yesterday.

“East German authorities alone decide when to grant such permits. The embassy in Prague had to be closed today because its capacity is exhausted,” he said.

A West German television reporter in the Czechoslovak capital said that the

embassy was brightly lit on Thursday night and diplomats were playing host there to an economic mission from the West German port of Bremen. Government sources said that East and West Germany were engaged in delicate talks to end the occupation but they were moving at a snail’s pace. East Germany has said that it will not take legal

steps against the refugees but will not grant them exit permits, West German Government sources said yesterday. Mr Boenisch said that East Germany had warned Bonn that it would no longer grant exit permits to people who tried to extort them. The clamp-down comes after occupations earlier this year.