DEMAND FOR PEACE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1943, Page 3

DEMAND FOR PEACE

IN NORTHERN ITALIAN CITIES THREAT OF GENERAL STRIKE. WHEN RESISTANCE IN SICILY ENDS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 16. Mobs again surged through the cities of northern Italy yesterday demanding immediate peace, says the British United Press correspondent on the Italian frontier. Demonstrations started in the early morning in Milan, and crowds also took possession of the streets in Genoa and Turin, shouting for peace. Swarms of soldiers made arrests, but this did not affect the crowds, Rome was still in a state of excitement yesterday. The Vatican radio reported that after the midday Mass at St. Peter’s an enormous crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, and the Pope, as on the previous day, appeared at a window overlooking the square, and several times blessed the people.

The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph agency on the Swiss frontier says that big Italian newspapers are now openly demanding peace. The Rome “Giornale d’ltalia” says: “We de.

mand freedom and peace, and nothing else. Let the Germans stew in their own juice. The Italian people don’t want to hear any more of war. Make this clear to the Germans and th e Anglo-Saxons.” The Algiers radio broadcast a report, reported to have come from Berlin, that the Badoglio Government had left Rome. It is announced from Rome that the prefect has issued an order banning visitors from the capital. The residents of Rome are forbidden to give shelter for more than five days either for money or as hospitality, except to close relatives. Efforts are being made to reduce the number of residents in the hotels. The Italian secret radio station Italia Avanti announced that a general strike would be called in Italy when resistance in Sicily ended, to enforce the people’s demands, for peace.