The Northern Advocate, Thursday December 4, 1917. French Assembly Heavily Guarded

Northern Advocate, 4 December 1947, Page 5

The Northern Advocate, Thursday December 4, 1917.

French Assembly Heavily Guarded

PARIS, Wed. (10 a.m.). —Heavily-reinforced armed guards and police wearing steel helmets guarded the Palais Bourbon, where the National Assembly is meeting to debate the anti-strike Other armed guards are posted in the principal streets lound the Presidential Palace. The British United Press correspondent says the posting or extra guards followed reports of a Communist-planned mass demonstration march on the Assembly.

Late this afternoon, however, the cordon of police, which had been thrown round the National Assembly, was broken and traffic allowed through.. Communist deputy Bonte denied that the Communists planned to march on the Assembly. . The strikers took possession of Juvisy railway station, south of Paris, and stopped all traffic until police, after two hours, cleared them from the station. Before the police arrived at Juvisy Station crowds waiting for trains took matters into their own hands and attacked the strikers, who retreated, battered and bleeding. CLEARING FACTORIES Police are clearing strikers from Paris factories. Three detachments of Mobile Guards ejected pickets from the Lille metal works, where about 3000 of 45,000 workers returned to work. Workers in about 2000 Paris flour mills resumed after a stoppage of more than three weeks. The French people are feeling the effects of the strike. Housewives, fearing serious violence, are hoarding food. Troops are cleaning Paris streets, which are filthy as the result of the dustmen’s strike. REDS WANT TO QUIT? Although the strikes have paralysed France for more than a week, the correspondent says, there has never been anything like a general strike and most people agree that the Communists would now like to retire from their not very tenable position if only they could find a way of doing so without losing too much face. The Minister of Labour (M. Mayer) last night claimed that 75 per cent of the 2,000,000 workers, who were out have now returned to work. Under police protection, the bulk of the miners had gone back, he said. In other quarters it was claimed that the railway position was “80 per cent normal.’’ Theatres, cinemas and night clubs reopened last night and letters were delivered in Paris yesterday for the first time for a week. AGAINST MARSHALL PLAN The Minister for the Interior (M. Moch) told the National Assembly tonight that the strikes were intended to impede the Marshall Plan. M. Moch. turning toward M. Thorez, said he believed M. Thorez knew this better than anyone since his return' from Moscow. M. Moch said thei-e had been a general diminution of strikes, but. at the same time, there was a noticeable stiffening in the attitude of those who could not reconcile themselves to failure to cause a general strike. M. Moch said only 5 per cent of railwaymen were now on strike, except on the Paris-Marseilles line. On the northern lines there were serious stoppages only in the mining areas of Lens and Valenciennes. The main lines were running well. ASSEMBLY ADJOURNS . Moch, returning to the charge against Communists, added that bands of people, apparently obeying a military commander, were stirring up trouble in the northern mining districts. The Communist Party had almost everywhere ordered members to destroy party cards so they would not be recognised as party members when arrested in demonstrations. The Assembly, amid cries and counter cries adjourned until this evening. SHOOTINGS Work had almost completely resumed in the Moselle mines, and coal would arrive in Paris from the east tomorrow.

The Armed Forces Ministry issued a communique stating that shootings occurred at small outposts in the Valenciennes region.

The troops had not returned the fire but “resisted the pressuree of many hundreds of strikers.”

The communique did not mention casualties.