PRAGUE QUIET

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21508, 22 November 1939, Page 7

PRAGUE QUIET

Smaller Centres Now Affected Wholesale Arrests Onited Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, November 20. The Rotterdam correspondent of “The Times” says that Black Guards remain in occupation of university buildings in Prague. The city is quiet. A number of university professors were arrested but their fate is unknown. Workmen ignored the clamour for a protest strike. Reports from the Czech frontier indicate that the Prague revolt has spread to many towns and villages. More people are being arrested and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. The Prr.jue radio announced that the curfew had been withdrawn but martial law remains. Twenty thousand armed guards occupy the city. The students circulated a secret manifesto throughout the protectorate in which they said “We are happy if we have awakened the conscience of the civilised world.” The Bohemian and Moravian frontier has been closed. A message from Budapest states that fourteen arrests have been made in the Czech Protectorate, mostly tn Prague and Brunn, but at Kladno the Chief of Police, six officials and 24 policemen were arrested. The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press states that Hitler has summoned the Reich Protector (Baron von Neurath) and the State Secretary (Dr. Franck) to Berlin to report on the disturbances in the Czech Protectorate. It is reliably reported that a number of Black Guard chiefs have been sent to Prague to direct the restoration of order. “NOT FIT TO RULE’’ British Official Wireless RUGBY, November 20. Reports of the week-end terrorism in Czecho-slovakia are the subject of much comment in the press. “The Times” states that, although Prague has become a forbidden city to the outside world, “it is certain that the Czech people, bitterly resenting the tyranny which they suffer under the police rule of the Nazis, have once more allowed their feelings to get the better of prudence and openly shown repugnance to the oppressors.”

"The Times’’ adds: “It is clear that the tormented Czech people still place love of liberty before all other senti-

mente, and are suffering ferocious punishment at the hands of their German masters."

Placing responsibility on the shoulders of the brutal local administration, “The Times" suggests that the present situation is further proof of the Germans’ incapacity for ruling alien races. Of the German official explanation that the disorders were caused by “a group of intellectuals," acting under foreign inspiration, “The Times" states that the Czechs’ national spirit has doubtless drawn sustenance from the knowledge of the French and British war aims, from the existence of the fighting Czech Legion, and, in Paris, the formation of the National Czech Committee, but the main reason is the evidence before their own eyes of the results of Nazi rule. “Race of Bullies” “A militarised regime that does not undersand what liberty is, in fact, trying to crush a people to whom life without liberty has become not worth living. The Czechs stand now, as they have stood before in history, for national and moral values against a race of bullies who tried to expel spiritual life even from their own national system. They stand and they suffer for freedom of speech and freedom of imbination and for the right of a small country to live in security and independence. These are the liberties which Britain and France and all nations of the British Commonwealth are determined to see re-established in Europe, and which lend to their campaign the character of a crusade.” The “Daily Telegraph” views the Czech situation in the pattern of Nazi promises and performances, and states that it is the fear of an enchained people which has driven Hitler “to new convulsions of fury.” Threats Not Carried Out Reviewing the German poll during the war, the editorial states: “Every week of the war has seen Germany going through the motions of frightfulness in different directions." If the threats were facts, Europe would now be at Germany’s feet. Although the oft-threatened mass attack has not yet happened, Britain stands prepared to meet Herr von Ribbentrop’s “truly horrible war.” The “Daily Herald,” hailing the Czechs as allies, states: “All other peoples as they look on will be strengthened even further in their determination not to allow the monstrous apparatus of terror now tormenting Central Europe to survive a day longer than it must.” WILL REPAIR DAMAGE United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph —Copyright LONDON, November 20. The Prime Minister of Poland (General Sikorski), in a statement

before going to France, said he had had a conference with the former Czech President (Dr. Benes) and Dr. Hodza. and they had arrived at a common decision to repair the damage done to their countries. General Sikorski paid a tribute to the magnificent bravery of Polish sailors in their daring escape from the Baltic. The Polish Navy was now co-operating with the British.