Saboteurs Blast Belgian Rail Lines: Anti-Leopold Violence Blares Up

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23315, 26 July 1950, Page 7

Saboteurs Blast Belgian Rail Lines: Anti-Leopold Violence Blares Up

(N.Z.R.A.—Reuter— Copyright.)

(11 a.m.) BRUSSELS, July 25. Thirteen bomb blasts shattered railway lines throughout Belgium today in the biggest flare-up yet of anti-Leopold sabotage. In some places telephone lines were cut and in the Walloon half of the Brabant province 18,000 workers struck in protest against King Leopold’s return to the throne.

Explosions cut the main railway line from Brussels to Namur in three places. Other blasts ripped up tracks between Namur and Charleroi and Namur and Tirlemont.

The nearest explosion to Brussels occurred at Boitsfort, about seven miles away. A bomb tore a breach in a line leading into Schaerbeek, the huge marshalling yard in a Brussels suburb. Workmen this morning found an unexploded bomb on the same line. Lines leading out of the great southern industrial city of Liege were breached in three places. Saboteurs cut 20 signal lines at Quenast between Brussels and Mons. In Erussels itself nails were sprinkled over a large stretch of the main road to Mons. A grid pylon was destroyed by an explosion at Rojx, near Charleroi. Leaders of the strikers in the Brabant province said that the stop-work protest would last at least 48 hours but the workers were meeting later to decide its exact duration.

Since the Belgian Parliament voted King Leopold back into power, there have been several explosions similar to those which occurred today but the sabotage has not been on such a big scale.

One bomb exploded against the wall of King Leopold’s palace before his return from Geneva. Three small bombs exploded at electricity relay stations near Charleroi and yesterday the basement of a Brussels lingerie house was blown out.

The staunchly pro-Leopold newspaper Libre Belgique reported today that Prince Charles, the former Regent, is at Saint Raphael on the French Riviera. This is the first announcement that he has left the country. Many Belgians were surprised that Prince Charles did not meet his brother upon his return. So far as could be ascertained he sent no message. The brothers are known to have been on strained terms.several times in the past.