GREEK ELECTIONS

Grey River Argus, 1 April 1946, Page 5

GREEK ELECTIONS

COMMUNIST AIM To Prevent Voting (Rec. 6.30) ATHENS, March 30. Noisv demonstrations by those paX?who ara boycottmg He Greek elections marked the closing stages ot the campaign in Athens. Five police officers and five civilians were injuied when police dispersed demonstrators around the Athens Labour Exchange. All of the Greek armed forces, police and gendarmerie are under the orders of specially-appointed military advisers until one week after the elections. Prefect of Missolonghi sent a message to the Minister of the Interior asking for the help of British forces to maintain order in that region during Sunday, saying that the situation there is tense, and local gendarmerie appeared to be unwilling to co-operate with the authorities. In Athens fifteen civilians and four policemen were injured in a fifteenminute clash between police and demonstrators who were urging a boycott of the election. The clash occurred in Omonia Square, which was a scene of bitter fighting, during the civil war in December, 1944. The police stated that they were attacked with clubs and stones. The crowd dispersed when the police fired into the air.

A former Foreign Minister, M. Sofianopoulis, who earlier addressed the crowd in Omonia Square, told twenty thousand densely packed supporters that the general election was forced on Greece by Mr Bevin. The crowd roared: “British troops must go.” M. Sofianopoulis denounced British intervention in Greek affairs. He declared: “We faced Germany and Italy. We will put out our chests. We will defend the sovereignty of our country. We are not afraid of Bevin’s guns.” One hundred thousand Greek troops and twenty thousand rural gendarmes are standing by throughout Greece to ensure order for to-morrow’s elections.

All British troops have been ordered to remain in their quarters on Sunday. In certain areas “flag marches” may be made to discourage would-be trouble-makers.

Latest reports show that the country generally is quiet.