PREMIER’S TALKS WITH KING

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24900, 13 June 1946, Page 5

PREMIER’S TALKS WITH KING

The Italian Cabinet yesterday morning decided that the Prime Minister (Signor de Gasperi) would immediately assume the functions of Head of the State. Signor de Gasperi communicated this decision to King Umberto. The Cabinet meeting was suspended to enable Signor de Gasperi to visit King Umberto for the third time yesterday. King Umberto, at the second visit, is reported to have told Signor de Gasperi that he would not put obstacles in the way of the country’s pacification, but he reserved the right to hear his advisers’ and jurists’ opinions. A commission, including all parties except the Liberals, before the Cabinet continued its session, appealed to Signor de Gasperi to end an uncertain situation which was “dangerous to the country.”

In Rome, the police seized monarchist flags and broke up demonstrations in the central Piazza Venezia. Ihe demonstrators resisted fiercely. Several police officers were injured and one person was killed. Nearly 100,000 Republicans marched . th ® Vlminale Palace in Rome, the fh?r?hK > \® rn J n 1 ent ’ . to P rot est against the Cabinet s delay in proclaiming the °Tf th( k mo o arc^ r - The march began after the Socialist Minister of the Interior (Signor Romita) had addressed the crowd and declared that the Cabinet was merely talking and not acting. He enjoined the crowd not to march against the Royal Palace. “We will march- there another time* to the tune of the ‘Marseillaise,’ ” he said. Heavy cordons of troops, tanks, and police surround the Royal Palace.