BAN ON BRITISH RADIO

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20601, 31 October 1941, Page 5

BAN ON BRITISH RADIO

VICHY ISSUES ORDER BLAME FOR KILLINGS (Reed. Oct. 31, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 30. The Vichy radio yesterday announced a decree prohibiting listening to the 8.8. C. and other broadcasts.

The decree alleges that the banned stations, particularly the 8.8. C., are inciting the French people to antinational activity. The 8.8. C. was accused of responsibility for the recent murder of two German officers.

The suggestion that the French nation should cease work to-morrow for five minutes as a protest against the murder of hostages is felt in London to have created great uneasiness in the minds of the Vichy Government and to be responsible for the decree forbidding listening to British broadcasts under a heavy penalty. Private listeners can be imprisoned for up to two years and have their wireless sets confiscated, while a public establishment permitting such listening can be closed for six months.

These repressive measures are a tribute to the effectiveness of the British Broadcasting Corporation, r. fact which has been already demonstrated in Germany by the hysterical outbursts by Goebbels against such listening by his own people. The Vichy Government’s action shows the acute realisation that large numbers of Frenchmen are likely to listen to the message to be broadcast to-morrow afternoon by Colonel Britten, the organiser of the V campaign in the oppressed countries.