SCOBIE CHEERED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21581, 7 December 1944, Page 6

SCOBIE CHEERED

f'laojc. in Athens' RED FLAG INCIDENT FOOD RUNNING SHORT ffiy ' 'Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) ■ ■ ■ LONDON, Dec. 5. . •Define ' crowds cheered General Scbfcie, Allied’ G.O.C. in Greece, as he wait'd" to his Athens headquarters thiMindrnxng: , . „ 'the Associated Press Athens correspondent' reports that Greek civil police fired on an official car carrying the ..head of the Soviet Mission to Greece, Colonel Popoff. who was unhurt; ' The police mistook the Russian j?ed-flag on the mudguard for the E.A;M. flag The Greek civil police report that about 100 people were killed and possibly. 250 wounded in yesterday’s street fighting in Athens. The E.A.M. has.announced that four more civil-, ian sc were killed this afternoon when pdlice fired on demonstrators. Reuter’s Athens correspondent reports that R.A.F. fighters yesterday made reconnaissance flights over the EjkAS. : concentration areas. British trOdps to-day began re-occupying the public buildings on the which wore earlier occupied by E.L.A.S. tar Oops.. So far the re-occupation has been . carried out without incident. .The attack against the joint AngloGfeek: naval headquarters on the Pjhaeus yesterday was carried out by 400 . E.L.A.S. troop;, armed with automatic weapons and seven or eight machine-guns. The battle lasted from 7 a.m. to it a.m., and the E.L.A.S. troops withdrew when British, armoured cars arrived and patrolled the no-man’s-land between the opposing forces. One Greek was killed/, and three British seamen vJduhded in the incident. The E.L.A.S. troops; . at the pistol-point, simulfifcbiiSly entered the hospital wing theV-Naval College, which they still htj&py. -ViThere - were no foodstuffs for sale ili .Athens to-day. Most families are without' stocks and the food situation is- serious. ■British troops during the day several times intervened in the fighting.' in.; Athens, states Reuter’s Athens correspondent. file street fighting has moved nearer the heart, of the city and there is still no sign of any solution to the uncertain political situation. New and conflicting stories of political moves are circulated- houriy. ■The E.L.A.S. attack on the headquarters ol the E.D.E.S. party, which is near the main-railway station, was a : strong- effort, and British soldiers in full battle order are guarding the street leading to the British headquarters, which are wired. British troops are being paid tributes for the manner in which they h£vb peacefully* scooped and disarmed large parties of E.L.A.S. troops Without a shot being fired. Tne BKtish troops so far have fired only a few rounds. This was when the joint' British-Greek naval headquarters' on the Piraeus were attacked. The Associated Press Athens correspondent, in an eye-witness atf&tffit of the E.L.A.S. unit’s attack dtflv.the E.D.E.S. headquarters, says kdOtsr of people stood in doorways; Snr 10 yards of the besieged ■'S’, headquarters, half-a-dozen Hen. were maintaining a sniping feud wttlTthe E.D.E.S. men holding a large blbdktdf- flats. One said; “There are FdSblsts in there. They collaborated WiflMtMO-Germans. You British leave U3*ifl<>Ue and’ we will kill them all.’’ ;;*PyYi>’ members of the E.L.A.S. Were killedI’within 1 ’within a few minutes. Mem- **»:,■<#• the’ E.L.A.S; then appeared, f dragging a sack of home-made' bombs. One produced a two-gaLlon petrol-tin bomb', and lighted the fuse 0-5-. it. ; He then ran crouching alongthe;, front' of the E.D.E.S. building, jihd drOpped the bomb in- the main entrance. There ..was a terrific ex-plosion-and flame's leapt up. As the qaken door crashed in, the crowd of spectators cheered and flung more grenades into the building.