Monarchists Only Have Voice

Northern Advocate, 30 March 1946, Page 5

Monarchists Only Have Voice

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 28 Only Greek Monarchist candidates were free to express opinions in next Sunday’s elections, the Greek Premier <M. Sofoulis) told foreign correspondents at Athens.

M. Sofoulis declared that-State officials were supporting illegal armed bands. He described the security forces and police gendarmerie as a heritage of the Metaxist dictatorship and Axis occupation. They were "dictatorial Fascist and monarchistminded.”

He added that the only remedy would be to dissolve them and create an entirely new force.

“My opinion is that the elections should be postponed at least until the autumn, but it must be understood that the international situation makes it necessary to hold them on Sunday." British troops should not leave too early after the election.

The Monarchist demand for a plebiscite would give rise to new conflicts ANTI-BRITISH FEELING

Greek troops were ordered to stand by in Athens today following the first shooting incident in the election campaign.

A mob of youths, said to be Communists, stoned the Royalist Popular Party headquarters. Two were wounded by pistol shots, says the Athens correspodent of the Daily Mail. Men with ladders, brushes and pots of glue filled Athens today with "Don't Vote" posters.

Roadways were filled with fluttering pamphlets, urging abstention from voting. Little notices, saying "Made in England,” had been glued across the foreheads of photographs of Royalist candidates. The anti-British feeling now is bitterly strong in Left Wing circles. WALK OVER There are bands and loudspeakers in the streets and here and there arguments at street corners and cafes have developed into incidents. The correspondent added that because the Left Wing will not vote the election will be a walk-over rather than a contest. There is no element of doubt about the result. The Socialist editor of the EAM newspaper Free Greece asserted that British election observers attached to four key Ministries had more power than the Ministers. He accused observers in the Finance Ministry of keeping down workers' salaries and accused other British officials of refusing permission to import lorries because they would damage railway interests.