CRISIS IN GREECE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 54, 1 February 1938, Page 7

CRISIS IN GREECE.

ARREST OF POLITICIANS. COUNTRY OUTWARDLY CALM. LONDON, Jan. 31. The Daily Telegraph’s Belgrade correspondent says that reliable private information from Athens indicates that the situation there is much misunderstood abroad, chiefly because of the vigorous Government censorship. Newspapers have created the opinion that General Metaxas has just established a dictatorship by a coup d’etat, whereas the truth is that Greece has been ruled by one of the most severe military dictatorships in Europe, with constant arrests of politicians of all shades of opinion and their banishment to desert islands, since General Metaxas came into power in 1936. Those arrested on January '2B represented suppressed parties who circulated a memorandum, demanding the restoration of the Constitution, resulting in the Government’s ordering their arrest and banishment. Because of their international eminence, the Greek censorship vainly made an effort to prevent the names of those arrested becoming known abroad. It still prohibits correspondents from detailing them, in spite of the fact that the names have been published throughout the world. The country outwardly is calm, in spite of the fact that the arrests caused indignation to reach boiling point. It will boil over eventually,, but at present there is not the faintest indication of when this will occur.

A message from Athens on January 28 stated: The newspapers publish a Government statement announcing the arrest and banishment from Athens within the last few days of all the leading opposition politicians. It is stated that the dictatorial regime of General Metaxas is abandoning its previous measures and entering on a new period of severity which is without; pity to operate against those disturbing the peace of the people. Those banished include M. Sofoulis (leader of the Liberal Party), M. Theptokis (leader of the Nationalist Monarchist Party), M. Kaphandaris (leader of the Progressives) and M. Michalakopulos (leader of the Independent Republicans and a former Foreign Minister).