RIOTS IN GERMANY

Wanganui Chronicle, 29 November 1948, Page 5

RIOTS IN GERMANY

GRAVE UNREST IN THE WESTERN ZONES

LONDON, Nov. 28 (Recd. 12.15 am). —Rising prices are causing grave unrest in Western Germany, and there are many signs that a wave of strikes and possibly riots will break out in the British and American zones, says the Associated Press Frankfurt correspondent. An executive of the German Trade Union Federation predicted a number of large-scale strikes unless the upward trend of prices was checked. Recalling how during a one-day strike on November 11 a thousand Germans rioted in Stuttgart, other German officials expressed fears of public disorders. A Bizonal Council of Trade Unions is demanding sweeping measures to meet what it calls “an economic emergency.” Already the 150,000 members of British zone office workers have promised a “fight to a finish” against the bizonal administration’s economic policies Labour generally is demanding a special control law and extended powers for the police to curb excessive prices. The chairman of the German bi-zonal committee. Dr. Hermann Punder, concedes that the situation is “an extreme economic emergency,” but he has rejected trade union requests for an official declaration of this emergency, because, he says, this would cause panic among consumers. Tlie chairman of the Hesse State Trade Union Federation declares that the present economic policies are threatening the very existence of the workers.