RINGED WITH TROOPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26628, 26 November 1947, Page 5

RINGED WITH TROOPS

PRECAUTIONS. IN PARIS LABOUR TROUBLES SPREADING PARIS, Nov. 24. Paris is ringed with troops as the labour trouble spreads in France, and large squads of police and mobile guards have been drafted to the city. Military and civil authorities are planning emergency food supplies to break the strike blockade. Reports that the Communists are planning an armed uprising are treated with considerable scepticism. It is believed that the elaborate military precautions taken during the past fortnight have been sufficient to deter them. Police at the underground station in the Champs Elysses broke up demonstrations against increased underground railway fares. Police® have been posted at every underground station to prevent similar incidents. The. police at Marseilles prevented an attempt by 200 passengers to break through picket lines and board a steamer in the harbour. The strike of Paris school teachers has spread to Sorbonne University, where professors walked out. Employees of the Paris postal, telegraph, and telephone services have struck, and services have been suspended in four Paris districts. Dockers in Bordeaux, La Rochelle, and le Havre also struck, joining those in Marseilles, Nice, and other southern ports, who have been idle almost a fortnight.