A STATE OF SIEGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 81, 4 March 1935, Page 7

A STATE OF SIEGE.

POSITION IN ATHENS. MUTINEERS HOLD WARSHIPS. Received March 4. 11.15 a.m. ATHENS, March 3. A state of siege has been proclaimed in Athens and several articles of the Constitution have been suspended. M. Tsaldaris has taken over the portfolio of Foreign Minister from M. Maximos, who is now in P°>'is and who resigned prior to the revolt. Admiral Douzim.nis becomes Minister of Marine and M. Schinas the Air Minister.

The opposition leaders, MM. Cafadaris and Papanastasiou, who were discovered hiding in M. Venizelos’s house, were arrested.

M. Venizelos is reported to have issued an anti-Govsrnment proclamation inviting the Cretan Senators and Deputies to attend a special meeting, while the Government has detained the Senators and Deputies representing Salonika.

Quiet prevails on the mainland and courts-martial are being constituted for the trial of the rebels, but the mutineers retain possession of five warships, which are believed to have reached

Crete. i MUIi The extent of the damag . which the three warships suffered in Saturday’s bombing is not ascertainable. The cruiser Sveroff again bombed Souda. Bay, near Canea, to-day. Artillery was despatched to Kara Point, ten miles from Salonika, which is under martial law, in order to bomb the rebel ships if they attempt to enter the harbour.

It was officially announced later that aeroplanes bombed two of the rebel warships, but the damage'is unknown. The Times’s Athens correspondent says the Cretan Venizelists revolted when the rebel fleet approached and superseded the Governor by a Cretan colonel.