BRITAIN’S LAST NOTE

Evening Star, Issue 23845, 27 March 1941, Page 9

BRITAIN’S LAST NOTE

YUGOSLAV PEOPLE AGAINST PACT END OF STATE'S FREEDOM GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DECISION (British Official Wireless.) RIjGBY, March 26. (Received March 27, at noon.) At question time in the House pi Commons, Mr Butler made a statement on the Note which the British Minister delivered to the Yugoslav Government when it appeared that the action just taken by it was imminent- Mr Butler said that in this Note the British Government indicated that it had been led emphatically to believe that no action could or would be taken by that Government capable of harming, or making difficulties for, the nations upholding the cause, which it was assured the people of Yugoslavia regarded as their own. The British Government, therefore, had been shocked to learn that Yugoslavia had now suddenly contemplated the signature of an agreement by which she had not only abandoned Her neutral attitude, but had ap-

parently entered the very system of Britain’s enemies. If such an agreement was concluded, the British Government would be bound to point out that, in the Imht of recent history, the Yugoslav people were almost certain to bo drawn more deeply into that sya tern as time went on. The history of the last 18 months had shown how little Germany scrupled to honour any assurance she gave. The Yugoslav Government must be well aware that in adhering to the Tripartite Pact it had opened the .way to the Germans’ familiar methods of infiltration and intimidation, which would gradually imperil the free existence of Yugoslavia as an independent State, The responsibility for the results of its present decision rested squarely upon the shoulders of the Yugoslav Government. The House would understand that ho could not at present take the matter any further. NO CHEERS FOR ENVOYS STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE WITH BRITISH FLAGS BELGRADE, March 26. (Received March 27, at 11.30 a.m.) There were no flags, no cheering, and no speeches when MM. Tsvetkovitch and Markovitch returned. Members of the 'Cabinet and Axis representatives met them at the station. Students carrying English and American Hags attacked Nazi sympathisers in the business section. The Belgrade police and soldiers were rushed to strategic spots, and the police cordoned off the largest schools. The Government closed down a school wherein the students staged a sit-down strike, tearing up Hitler’s pictures. UNREST GROWING 1 ANTI-AXIS. DEMONSTRATIONS LONDON, March 26. Wild anti-Axis demonstrations continued to-night throughout Yugoslavia, raising the suggestion that Germany will use them as an excuse for the entry of troops to keep order. A large crowd clashed with the police at Kragujavec. M. Kosta Pccanac, the leader of the Comitaja (a rebel society), is reported to have gone south to Serbia to recruit the sons of war-time comrades for the new fight for Serb independence. M. Pecanac was the hero of the Salonika campaign when he dropped from a plane into occupied Serbia and organised a revolt. Another report says that a former has formed two armies of risen who are going to Greece, and that many university students > and schoolboys have left for the Greek frontier, hoping to enrol in the Greek army. Groups of young Serbs stormed the British and Greek Legations, demanding uniforms and transportation to the Albanian front, while hundreds of Yugoslavs are openly wearing small metal badges of British and Greek flags. The boys at one school hoisted the Union Jack on the flagpole, and the boys of three schools in Belgrade refused to attend classes. A textile factory closed when the workers refused to work and went out, demonstrating against the Government. Schoolfellows mobbed the daughter of a member of the Government \yho voted for capitulation. Some leaders of the secret society, " Legion of Death.” and other anti-Nazis have been arrested. LEADERS BLAMED BRITISH. PRESS COMMENT LONDON, March 26. The newspapers pay a warm tribute to the spirit with which the Greeks are defending their independence, while the contrast with the fate of Yugoslavia excites general comment. The ‘ Yorkshire Post ’ says that Greek Independence Day will “ bo also the day on which the independence of