20 SOCIALISTS ARRESTED IN CZECH CAPITAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 March 1948, Page 6

20 SOCIALISTS ARRESTED IN CZECH CAPITAL

LONDON, March 13

Reuter’s correspondent in Prague says that the Minister of the Interior (Mr Nosek) *has announced that an “espionage centre” was discovered during the political crisis in the Czech Socialist Party’s headquarters in Prague. n . . Mr Nosek added that Dr Vladimir Krajina, secretary-General of the Socialist Party, conducted the office in collaboration with two National Socialist deputies, Mr Otto Hore and Mr Alois Cizek. . Musician Dismissed

The statement added that 20 members of the party were now under arrest. . . . „ Reuter’s correspondent in Prague reports that the Ministry of Education has dismissed the famous conductor, Vaclay Talich, from his post as conductor and director of the State National Opera. The action committee of the Union of Czech Composers has forbidden seven of its members to publish any compositions until their activities have been investigated. Reuter’s correspondent in Prague says that Czechoslovakia has protested to Austria about the way the Austrian press is presenting affairs in Czechoslovakia. The Czech Government alleged that even the official “Wiener Zeitung” had “grossly insult- , ed the Czechoslovak Republic.” ;

Chilean Move Criticised

The Chilean decision to. ask the Security Council for an investigation of events in Czechoslovakia was a provocative and impertinent gesture, said the Prague radio. “The events of February threatened only the security of traitors. The purification of the tense atmosphere in our political life was mostly the internal affair of the working people, and the purge of the political parties was the parties’ own affair,” it added. The Czechoslovak Government today notified the United Nations that it had dismissed Dr Papanek as its delegate. ' ■ t Dr Papanek said today that until he received a dismissal letter signed by the President (Dr Benes) he w°hld consider himself the delegate of the Czechoslovak Republic that existed before the Communist coup.