COMPLETE CALM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 November 1943, Page 3

COMPLETE CALM

EXISTING IN LEBANON ACCORDING TO FRENCH COMMUNIQUE. ARRESTS OF MINISTERS DEFENDED. (By Telegraph—(Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 14. A French communique issued in Algiers tonight denied that 48 deputies were arrested in Lebanon for voting in favour of the amended Constitution or that disturbances, including a clash between French tanks and Lebanese, had broken out or that sections of the Druzes revolted and scores were killed. The communique declared that the completest calm existed in Lebanon and that the incidents which had resulted from M. Helleu’s measures had been grossly exaggerated. It added that the arrival of General Catroux would end the misunderstanding. General Catroux arrived in Beirut today. ■ A special announcement made by a French official in Cairo said that the situation in Lebanon was generally calm. Today there is only mention of a procession of students in Damascus, capital of Syria. In Lebanon there .were small riotsa t Saida and a manifestation in Beirut in which four people were injured. There were no important incidents in Tripoli.

The French commander in the Middle East told correspondents that Lebanese Ministers were arrested by specially selected French officers and not by native troops as had been reported. He indicated that eight of the deputies had been arrested.

The Algiers correspondent of “The Times” says the French committee must accept some of the responsibility for the events in Lebanon. M. Helleu, who was at Algiers last week, discussed the situation with the committee, when General de Gaulle granted him full powers. If the recent action in Lebanon was contemplated at these discussions it is evident that the implications were not fully appreciated at the time. The Ankara radio reports that escaped Lebanese politicians have formed a Government at Baalbek, near Damascus, Syria. STRONG DISAPPROVAL EXPRESSED IN TURKISH PRESS. EGYPTIAN STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE. LONDON, November 14. The Turkish Press has strongly disapproved of the attitude of the French. The “Aksam” says: “If France thinks she is remaining in Syria after the war she is mistaken.” Another pap'ei' declared: “Syria belongs to the Syrians, and there is no place there for a foreign Government.” The Exchange Telegraph’s Cairo correspondent reports that Egyptian students this morning, shouting “Down with France! Down with de Gaulle! marched past Shepherd’s Hotel, where French officers were seated on the terrace. Several hundred students demonstrated wildly outside the French Legation, shouting the same slogans. A number of windows at the headquarters of the French delegation in Cairo were broken by stones this afternoon by Lebanese sympathisers. STRONG PROTEST MADE BY KING IBN SAUD. TELEGRAM TO MR CHURCHILL. LONDON, November 15. Saudi Arabia has protested strongly against the French action in Lebanon. In a telegram to Mr Churchill, King Ibn Saud appeals to the British Government to use its influence in restoring the situation. King Ibn Saud states that the French action has made the worst impression on the Arab peoples. VERY GRAVE VIEW TAKEN BY THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES. REPORTS OF CONTINUED DISORDERS. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, November 15. “The situation in Lebanon is extremely grave,” said the news director of the British Ministry of Information in the Middle East, Mr O. Ryan, on his return to Cairo from Beirut. Mr Ryan reiterated a British Ministry of Information statement that Senegalese troops were used to arrest the President of Lebanon, thus countering the French denial cabled yesterday. The British Minister of State in the ’ Middle East, Mr R. G. Casey, who returned from Beirut yesterday, estimat- ! ed that casualties as a result of the 1 Lebanon disturbances thus far total 140, of which ten or twelve were fatal. Mr Casey saw General Catroux in Cairo this morning and amplified and explained the British position in regard to Lebanon. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the British take a much graver view of the Lebanon position than is evident on the French side. Mr H. MacMillan ((British Minister in North Africa) has made further representations to the French National Committee. It is understood that, despite vehement French denials, reports through British channels indicate that disorder is continuing, not only in Beirut, but in several places throughout the country. A number of women and children were killed when a French tank fired on crowds.

It is stated in London that Mr MacMillan has been instructed to take up with the French Committee the question of an incident outside the British Legation in Beirut on Saturday morning, when French troops fired on and caused casualties among a large crowd of Lebanese students waiting in the hope of seeing the British Minister (General Sir E. Spears). It is pointed out that the troops apparently took action without orders 1 from French officers.