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Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1946, Page 5

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BRITAIN SPEAKS OUT JUGOSLAV PROVOCATIVE ACTIONS - TENSION IN TRIESTE AREA (Reci 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 20. . A British Note to Jugoslavia accuses the Jugoslav Government of failure to co-operate in the fair and impartial administration of Zone A of Venezia Giulia. It cites the incidents which had been the subject of a Note from Jugoslavia to Britain as providing proof of Jugoslavs’ provocative acts. The Note mentions that one Jugoslav officer and three soldiers were arrested at the Jugoslav War Booty Commission’s offices in Trieste because they had shot and fatally wounded a civilian in sporadic proSlav and pro-Italian outbreaks. Regarding six instances of Allied military police being called to protect Jugoslav persons’ property, the Note says that three were not reported until the Jugoslav Note was received. The other three were partly false and wholly exaggerated. Referring to allegations that the Allies had not arrested the murderer of a Jugoslav major, the Note states that the failure of the investigations was due largely to failure of the major’s companion to inform the police of the crime for several days. Concerning the allegation that the police- had supported Fascist mobs in attacking two Jugoslav officers, the Note says the officers violently resisted and threatened the police when the later tried to escort them to safety, especially after the officers driver had threatened the crowd with a hand grenade. The Note admits that civil police struck officers, but alleges gross provocation by the officers, against whose behaviour the Note vigorously protests. Also one of the officers carried prohibited wepons and insulted the Allied General Officer Commanding. Conseouently he was expelled from Zone A. The Note further acuses pro-Slav elements in Zone A of numerous obstructive and terroristic activities. It cite’s the arrest of a Jugoslav employee and evidence that he was implicated in the murder of a Jugoslav opposed to the present Government, and the attempted kidnapping of another. The Note concluded: “Such activities must provoke serious reactions from the local population. The Allied authorities continue to do their utmost to suppress such reactions to provocation, but the remedy is in the hands of the Jugoslav Government it self.” -