BELGIAN UNREST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22449, 19 June 1936, Page 9

BELGIAN UNREST

BIG CITIES AFFECTED A HOPEFUL CONFERENCE BRUSSELS, June 17 The gerferal strike at Liege took a grave turn to-day "when strikers attempted to raid an arms factory. The police drove them off and arrested 15. Gangs of strikers attempted to stop the traffic in the city and interfered •with pedestrians, necessitating repeated police charges. Liege resembles a beleaguered city. The tram and taxi services have stopped, and tho use of bicycles has been prohibited in order to frustrate the speedy assemblage of strikers. At Ghent 12,000 textile workers quitted their looms, and factories in the Verviers area stopped. The heavy industries at Charleroi are at a standstill. Strikes are spreading elsewhere and. all transport services, with the exception of the railways, are threatened. The trouble is approaching the capital, 500 metallurgical employees in the suburb of Euysbroeck having ceased work. The authorities announce that foreigners who participate in the agitations will be expelled. A conference, under the presidency of the Prime Minister, Dr. van Zeeland, between the employers and trades unionists agreed upon a minimum wage and six paid holidays annually. Eventually the employers conceded even the question of a 40-hour week, and a resumption of work is expected on Monday.