YUGOSLAV ACTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22133, 23 September 1946, Page 5

YUGOSLAV ACTS

BRITISH_CHARGE VENEZIA GIULIA BELGRADE BLAMED LONDON, Sept. 20. A British Note to Yugoslavia accuses the Yugoslav Government of failure to co-operate in the fair and impartial administration of Zone A of Venezia Giulia. It cites incidents, which have been the subject of a Note from Yugoslavia to Britain, as providing proof of Yugoslav provocative acts. The Note mentions that one Yugo slav officer and three soH’ers were arrested at the Yugoslav War Booty Commission's offices at Trieste because they shot and fatally wounded a civilian in sporadic pro-Slav and pro Italian outbreaks.

Regarding six instances in which Allied military police were called to protect Yugoslav persons and property, the Note says that three were not reported until the Yugoslav Note was received. The other three were partly false and wholly exaggerated. Own Act of Commission Referring to the allegations that the of the Yugoslav Government itself.” Allies had not arrested the murderer of a Yugoslav major, the Note states that the failure of investigations was due largely to the failure of the major’s companion to inform the police of the crime for several days. Concerning the allegation that the police supported a Fascist mob in attacks on two Yugoslav officers, the Note says that the officers violently resisted and threatened the police when the latter tried to escort them to safety, especially after the officers’ driver threatened the crowd with a hand grenade. The Note admits that the civil police struck the officers but alleges gross provocation by the officers against whose behaviour the Note vigorously nrotests and also that one of the officers carried prohibited weapons, insulted the Allied G.O.C. and was consequently expelled from the zone. Obstruction and Terrorism

The Note further accuses pro-Slav elements in Zone A of numerous obstructive activities. It cites the arrest of a Yugoslav employee and evidence that he was implicated in the murde of a Yugoslav who was 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 the utmost to suppress such reactions to provocation. but tlie remedy is in the Hands of the Yugoslav Government itself.