GRAVE TURN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 18 June 1936, Page 7

GRAVE TURN

STRIKES IN BELGIUM ATTEMPT TO RAID ARMS FACTORY REPEATED POLICE CHARGES (United Proas Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright; (Received 18th June, 9,55 a.m.) LIEGE, 17th June. The strike took a grave turn when strikers attempted to raid an arms factory. Police drove them off and arrested fifteen. Gangs attempted to stop traffic in the city and interfered with pedestrians, necessitating repeated police charges. The strikes are spreading elsewhere. All transport services, with the exception of the railways, are threatened.

TEXTILE WORKERS QUIT (Received 18th June, 11.40 a.m.) BRUSSELS, 17th June. The Belgian strikes are nearing the capital. Five hundred metallurgical employees in the suburb of Ruysbroeck are ceasing work. The authorities announced that foreigners participating in the agitations will be expelled. Liege resembles a beleaguered city. Tram and taxi services are stopped, and the use of bicycles is prohibited in order to frustrate speedy assemblage of strikers. . Twelve thousand textile workers of Ghent quitted looms. Factories in the Verviers area are stopping and heavy industries in Charleroi have been brought to a standstill.

MINIMUM WAGE AGREEMENT 40-HOUR WEEK NOT SETTLED (Received 18th June, 12.25 p.m.) BRUSSELS, 17th June. A conference under M. Van Zeeland between employers and trade unionists agreed upon a minimum, wage, and six paid holidays annually, but the 40-hour week has not been settled. (Received 18th June, 1.30 p.m.) BRUSSELS, This Day. The forty-hour week was subsequently conceded and resumption is expected cn 22nd June.

STRIKES IN FRANCE NO IMPROVEMENT IN SITUATION (Received 181 h June, 11.40 a.m.) PARIS, 17th June. The Senate passed bills permitting indemnities to civil servants, exempting ex-servicemen’s pensions from taxation, and granting paid holidays to workers. Metropolitan strikers still idle number fifty to sixty thousand. The situation is no better in Marseilles and worse at Lyons, St. Chamond, Angers, Larochelle, Le Havre and Mulhouse.

UGLY TURN AT MARSEILLES FREQUENT STREET CLASHES (Received 18th June, 1.10 p.m.) PARIS, 17th June. In Marseilles the situation has taken an ugly turn owing to the assumption of a political complexion with the intervention of Jeunesses Patriotes and other Right organisations. Numerous clashes are occurring with the Front Ponulaire. Youths of the Right and Left, wearing tricolour cockades or red brassards, marched shouting war cr ; es along the Cannebiere. Reinforcements joined both sides and fighting began. Passersby left trams and public vehicles and joined in, holding up all traffic. The Gardes Mobiles separated the combatants but bands reformed elsewhere and resumed hostilities. Right rioters took refuge in a disreputable gambling house, six of whose habitues barred the gate and prepared to defend the building with revolvers. Members of the Front Populaire attacked the premises and the Gardes Mobiles intervened but the crowd, after an exchange of missiles, refused to disperse.

POSITION AT CASABLANCA (Received 18th June, 11.40 a.m.) CASABLANCA, 17th June. The sugar workers have resumed, but metalworks and paintworks are idle. 1 The Council of National Defence approved of Resident-General Peyron’s establishment of an eight hour day with a minimum wage for native workers.