VERY TROUBLED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 January 1943, Page 3

VERY TROUBLED

SITUATION IN BULGARIA REPORTS OF WIDESPREAD DISORDERS. COMMUNICATIONS CUT OFF BY AUTHORITIES. (By Telegraph—Rness Association—Copyright) LONDON, January 11. Bulgaria’s telephone and telegraph • communications have been cut off since January 4. Speculation is rife concerning the mysterious events which have brought about this isolation, says the Istanbul correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.”

Travellers arriving at Istanbul from central Europe state that they were not allowed to leave the precincts of the Sofia and Provliv stations. They were able to snatch items of news showing that the situation is very troubled. The authorities are stated to have taken rigorous measures throughout Bulgaria and to have arrested about 25,000 alleged Communists.

Workers, students and othjer discontended groups are reported to have prepared a wide-scale rising. Ten thousand workers, backed by students and Communists, last weekend demonstrated in all the big centres and attacked police stations and official buildings. The location of the organisers <sf the uprising is not known, but the fact that disorders occurred simultaneously shows careful planning. The Government was obliged to reinforce the police with troops. Many bloody clashes occurred, with heavy casualties on both sides. A few hundred students are reported to have been executed.