RIOTS IN PRAGUE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 November 1939, Page 7

RIOTS IN PRAGUE

MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED

ANTI-GERMAN DEMONSTRATIONS

(BY CABLE—PBESO ASSN.—COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, November 18. The Bucharest correspondent of “The Times’? states that after rumours that the Russians were coming ; to expel the Germans, crowds poured into the streets of Tabor in South Bohemia, beat up and disarmed German police, and threw them into the river. A message from Berlin states that the Official German News Agency annouhced that nine Czechs had been shot and 1200 students arrested. The Czech universities had been closed. A further Official German News Agency message from Prague states that the Germans shot three more Czechs, two of whom were police officers, allegedly for attacks on Germans. An hour before the news agency’s announcement of the executions the official spokesman at the German Foreign Office informed foreign journalists that there was no truth in the rumours about disorders in Bohemia and Moravia.

Contrary to the German assertion that quietness prevails, the Paris radio states that the public. is most excited in Berlin. Martial law has been proclaimed in Prague- and other towns in the Protectorate. This does not affect German citizens.

After the executions Prague became like a dead city, the Czechs avoiding public places and remaining indoors as far as possible.

The German authorities announced that the Reich treason law wduld henceforth be applicable to the Pro r tectorate. The Paris radio announces that 30 were shot in the Prague demonstration and thousands wounded, apart from those executed.

Accounts say that Biack Guards with machine-guns were stationed in the streets where the students’ homes are located. They occupied various schools and discovered a secret radio ing plant and an illegal radio station. The students attempted to blockade their premises, but .Black Guards broke in with hatchets, arresting a professor and many students. A secret Czech radio station broadcast a message to the students: “We hear that some of. you have been murdered, but even 1 these blood-thirsty gangsters will not succeed in murdering all of you. You will continue your work and reopen your schools.” A Zurich message states that the Black Guards have completely occuuied Prague and have.placed machineguns and light, artillery opposite the university. Reinforcements from'-.Ger-many ' have entered other Czechoslovakian towns. • GERMAN EXPLANATION Explaining the the' Official German News-Agency states that the universiti.es?,apd' high schools will be closed down "for three 1 years. A group of Czech intellectuals connected with Dr. Benes, it alleges, attempted to disturb peace and order in the Protectorate by means of large and. small acts of resistance. They molested .individual Germans- on October 28 (the anniversary of the founding of the Czech Republic) and, also on November 15.

“All is peaceful and quiet in Prague to-day,” stated a German Government spokesman. “It is a mistake to assume the contrary '.merely, jjbeeause young intellectuals and criminals' attempted to disturb the peace. We cannot tolerate such people in war time.” . . The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press says that the German Propaganda. Ministry states that the Czech. President (Dr. Hacha) broadcast an appeal to the Czechs to preserve order, stating that they should realise that the protectorate is now incorporated in the “livingspace” of the Greater Reich, and that its. Government.; whi.ch. represents the best interests of .the 4 people, should be implicitly trusted. The Prague correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain quotes Dr. Hacha. as . saying: “You must not forget that Germany is engaged in a strenuous war on the Western front, for the prosecution of which the German people are> entitled to take all they need; The Czech people have not been led into war as in the Great War, and we are in a better position than many neutrals.” In spite of German denials that. Dr. Hacha has been arrested, reports persist? from reliable sources that the Gestapo has confined, him to his castle near Prague. His imprisonment, it .is stated, ? resulted from his refusal to visit' Berlin in order to sign a decree mobilising 1,000,000 Czechs for attachment to German regiments in the proportion of one Czech to three Germans.

An earlier report said 5000 motorised German troops arrived in Prague with artillery as a measure against the extension of the student riots. They entered the’ city in a demonstrative fashion, clearly intending to overawe the populace. The German belief that the situation is serious is shown by the seizure of the international telephone line from Prague to Budapest. Scores more arrests have been made.

The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press reports that high quarters state that although the execution of the Czech students mav seem harsh, it was necessary because Germany is at war. It was carried out by agreement with the Reich Protector (Baron ven Neurath) because Germany could not allow a few hotheads to contaminate the' Czech people. “The remainder of the protectorate is completely calm, but similar events may occur .in the occupied parts of Poland,” it is stated!. “Germany, in, peace-time would be most lenient with such happenings, but in war she has no choice but to crush them relentlessly.” ,

A Czech national committee has been set up in France to form a Czech army to fight against Germany. Dr. Benes, the former President of Czechoslovakia, is a member of the committee.

The Belgrade correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says that the police twice dispersed hundreds of Serbian students who were attempting to demonstrate in sympathy with the Czechs. HUNDREDS OFuARRESTS. (Recd. November 20. 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, November 19. The British United Press says that Berlin authoritative quarters have admitted the arrest of hundreds of Czechs, in an effort to catch the leaders of the Prague student demonstrations. Those proving their innocence are being released.

UNIVERSITY STORMED BLACK GUARDS V. STUDENTS : PARIS, November 18. The cause of the Prague disturbances is supposed to be the killing, of a> student during earlier demonstrations; when 120 were, supposed... to have been killed and 3000 arrested. . . An urn containing the.student’s ashr es was sent home, with instructionsto bury it secretly; but. his sister .told his surviving brother, on which the students marched to the Unknown Warrior’s monument, sang the Czech National Anthem, and tried to approach the residence of the Reich Protector (Baron von Neurath). ' The Germans fearing a riot, . dis? patched two lorries to .the university. The lorry crews opend fire with mach-ine-guns and automatic rules, killing a boy and fatally injuring two students. An old lame woman was thrown into the Moldau River. More Black ; Guards arrived, stormed the building, and arrested the stud- 1 ents there who had fortified the roofs and windows. They stormed other' houses, and made additional arrests. Dr. Benes, the former President of. Czechoslovakia, in a statement made in. London, said that Czechoslovakia would never succumb to a reign of terror. The execution of the students' was strangely reminiscent of what' happened in Belgium in the, last war. Their murder would have the ; same effect on the Czech' public as Nurse Cavell’s /assassination had on the British; a ' Mr. Jan Masaryk former Czech Minister in London, considers there is" .not yet any,,great' revolt against Nazi' aggression iX.the Czech Protectorate, because it- would At ►present be premature and stupid; but he believes that the will-come. He adds that Herr Hitler and • the -Nazis'-' will disappear after the failure of< their systematic plan for the denationalisation and economic ruin of the ‘Czechs. RUTHLESS REPRISALS (Recd. November 20, 2.15 p.m.), /LONDON, November 19-. “The Times’^”.' ■ correspondent says' thdt highl’Cztech officials informed a neutral-journalist in Prague that the Germans in 7 the'past 48 hours had executed 120 students, transported 8000 to Germany, and closed the Univerity and technical colleges for three years. Many sources confirm the ruthlessness of the German reprisals, beginning on October 28, the anniversary of Czech independence. The State Secretary, Hermann Frank, led hoqligans through .the streets, carrying whips, revolvers and rifles, attacking all persons standing or running, 'Jan, Oplethal, . 22, a medical student,' - was fatally wounded by six revolver 'shots. His funeral, the most important of the daily demonstrations, was parked by 1000 fellow-students assembling under flare lights,' making, defiant speeches, singing the' Czech and .Slovak anthems„ and crying “iJeatlijto the Murderers! Long live Liberty!” Armed German civilians forced unarmed Czech police towards the crowd, provoking skirmishes. Sudeten Germans, instructed in street fighting and enlisted as special constables, are organised for revengeful oppression. BRITISH PRESS COMMENTS | : “CONFESSIONS OF FEAR” i (Recd. November 20, 11.20 a.m.) ■ I LONDON, November 19. I Reports concerning disorders in Czechoslovakia, and of martial law in ! Prague, are prominently reproduced iin the newspapers. I The “Sunday Times” comments: When the Czech student riots occurt red in Prague last Wednesday, the ; first, impulse of the' German authorii- ; its was to tell the outer world that nothing had taken place. Now a very I different light is thrown :n the epiIsode. by the ferocity of the German Government’s self-proclaimed rejn’is- . als. Nine Czechs have been shot,' a 'number said to be as high as 1200 ' have been sent to concentration camps, and the Czech university and high schools have been closed for three years. President Hacha himself, hitherto the Germans' agent in administeiing the Protectorate, lias been confined to his house. The meaning of such severities is plain. They are confessions of fear. How much, it may cost Germany to keep the Austrians. Czechs, and Poles, repressed during the- war, it is difficult to estimate. The Czechs and Poles are disarmed, but they are desperate. An uprising, in such circumstances, is a tragic and ■ pitiful thing. Nevertheless, its effect on the use and'disposition of the German forces may be considerable.

NEUTRAL DISAPPROVAL

i,.., • • -sin (Reed.,-November 20, noon). RUGBY, November 19. " jSuch extracts from the neutral Press, relating to Nazi action inCzechoslovakia in the . last few days'! as have so far reached London, indie-, ate that the extreme severity of the measures reported to have been taken,.; to repress expressions of national's! sentiment and popular discontent. ha*i incurred the disapproval of neutral observers.

The Netherlands newspaper. “Measbade,” argues that brutal meas; ures never have practical resuL.y while the Danish “Politiken” finds it I suprising that a regime, that has i built itself up on the thesis of the i strength of national bonds, should, hinder-estimate the strength of nation-; | al feeling in another case.