FURTHER CLASHES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21581, 7 December 1944, Page 5

FURTHER CLASHES

SPORADIC FIGHTING PARTIES AND POLICE TANKS FIRE~FEW SHOTS (9 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 6. Greek troops on Tuesday evening surrounded and occupied the headquarters of the E.L.A.S. First Army Corps, in the centre of Athens, says Reuter’s Athens correspondent. Fifty members of the E.L.A.S. were arrested. A communique from General Scobie s headquarters in Athens, issued on Tuesday night, said: “Sporadic! lighting between the police and gendarmerie, and the Left-Wing parties resulted in the evacuation of a number of police stations in Athens and the Piraeus area. Fighting also occurred between Left-Wing and Right-Wing elements. British troops intervened.. and m a few cases had to take action to prevent bloodshed. At one place our tanks fired a few rounds into houses held by Left-Wing elements which were attacking a civil prison where a number of alleged collaborators were being held. “British troops who were guarding the prison in conjunction with the gendarmerie suffered casualties. LeftWing elements abducted a number of Greek army and navy officers and civilians. There is further evidence of E.L.A.S. elements moving in from the country to Athens.”