SPANISH OCCUPATION OF TANGIER ZONE

Southland Times, Issue 24154, 17 June 1940, Page 5

SPANISH OCCUPATION OF TANGIER ZONE

ACTION IN AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE (Britisn Official Wireless) RUGBY, June 14. The British Consul-General at Tangier this morning received a communication from the Spanish authorities stating that the object of the occupation by Spanish troops of the International Zone was effected to secure the strict neutrality of the zone. It was added that the occupation was of a purely provisional character. The occupation of the international settlement at Tangier was effected without incident The present administrator of the zone is a Frenchman. The Spanish colony is the largest in the settlement and the Italian colony is also considerable. The British colony is comparatively small. The gendarmerie is commanded by a Spaniard, and the municipal forces are under a Frenchman.

The Tangier Statute, of which the signatories are Britain, France, Spain and Italy and the acceding Powers Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, places the zone under a regime of permanent neutrality and prohibits any act of hostility on land, sea or air, by, against or within the zone. It also prohibits military establishments within the zone. By an understanding reached in the early days of the Spanish Civil War, it was agreed that in the event of troubles arising in the zone with which the administrator’s forces was unable to deal, the administrator could appeal to the Powers concerned to send forces to deal with the situation. An official statement in Madrid says that by agreement with France, 1200

Spanish and Moroccan troops occupied '• Tangier in the name of the Sultan of I Morocco in order to safeguard the neutrality of the Tangier International Zone. A Spanish destroyer is standing off the port. Senor Gonzales Oliveros, Civil Governor of Madrid, addressing 1000 demonstrators celebrating the Tangier occupation, said: “General Franco has begun the construction of the Empire he promised us.” The parade which followed carried banners demanding the return of Gibraltar. The number of Spanish troops in Tangier has risen from 1200 to 3500. A 'Spanish cruiser has arrived in Tangier. Bay.