ALBANIAN REVOLT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18435, 15 June 1920, Page 7

ALBANIAN REVOLT.

GENERAL RISING AGAINST

ITALIANS. FIERCE ATTACK ON VALONA. By Telegraph—Presa Association—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. ROME, June 13. It is officially announced that assaults by tho Albanian rebels 011 Valona were repelled. Ten Italians were killed and twenty, wounded, and a general was captured. The Albanmhs flod, leaving six hundred dead and hundreds ot wounded. The Italians havo been reinforced. Tho latest unofficial report is that tho Albanians have entered Valona and havo occupied Palermo, further south. Tho defence of Valona is now entrusted to cruisers. (Received June 14, .5.5 p.m.) ROME, Juno U. Tho fight for Valona raged furiously for four hours, beginning at midnight. Fifteen thousand Albanian insurgents placed mines on all tho roads. They destroyed bridges and planted captured Italian guns on heights overlooking tho town. Theso shelled tho naval base during tho main attack, Italian warships replying. Tho defenders' plight was almost hopoloss at four o'clock, owing to a treacherous Mussulman attack in their rear, but Alpini mado a desperate charge, slaying 200 and capturing sover.il thousand and a number of guns. Then they rounded up all tho Mussulmans, whoni they deported to Brindisi. Italian losses are severe. The first list contains thirty-soven officers missing. There aro disquieting rumours concorning the fate of the Scutari garrison. Later. _ The anti-Italian rising in Albania is now general. Italian garrisons havo been forced to quit several Adriatic seaports. The evacuation of Durazzo and Scutari is imminent. GARRISONS WITHDRAW. (Received June 14, 8.45 p.m.) ROME, June 14. Tho garrisons at Santa Quaranta (eight miles north-east of Corfu), Dulcigno (on tho Montenegrin coast, twelve mtfes south of Antivari) and Antivari havo been forced to embark. A small garrison at Tepoleni, soventy-five miles south-east of Durazzo, though surrounded for many days, is still holding out, receiving rations from aeroplanes. Durazzo continues pluckily to resist, but everything is ready for evacuation. It appears that a national uprising is now in progress throughout Albania.

'STRIKES IN ITALY. ROME, June 13. Two hundred Arditi, objecting to embark for Albania, caused a serious riot at Trieste, in which a number of soldiers and civilians wore killed and injured. The Arditi ultimately capitulated and embarked. Troops havo occupied Milan railway station owing to tho railwaymen s strike. Quiet has been restored t at Trieste. Tho Government, using military engineers and marines as volunteers, run train loads of munitions- The strike is known as tho " White Strike." The railwaymen simply fold their arms, and do not leave their stations Passongors are compelled to disembark or depart ten miles outside tho city. (Received Juno 14, 7.30 p.m.) ROME, June 14.

Strikes of seamen and railwaymen aro occurring in many Italian ports nnd towns, the object being to prevent tho dispatch of troops and material to Albania.

ESSAD PASHA ASSASSINATED. Reutor's Telegrams.

PARIS, June 13

General Essad Pasha, Dictator of Albania, and head of the Albanian Delegation to Paris, was shot dead by an Albanian youth outside his hotel The assailant, who was arrested, said that he acted upon a sudden impulse wing to tho sufferings ot Albanians in Constantinople.

(Received June 14, 7.30 p.m.) PARIS, Juno 14

llustem, an Albanian student, assassinated Essad Pasha in the Ruo de Castiehene, holding him to bo an enemy of Albania's aspirations. Essad Pasha was entering a motor from the Hotel Continental when Rustem, who was hiding behind a pillar, shot him twice with a revolver. Tho second bullet penetrated tho heart, and Essad dropped doad. Porters seized Rustom, whom tho crowd half lynched, llustem said ho wished to avenge Albania's wrongs, and Essad had been plotting against the newly formed Republic Government. . Essnd came to Pans as head of the Albanian delegation, and stayed _ hero because Italy refused to permit him to return. .