An official statement issued today by the Ministry of the Interior, following the visit by aeroplane to Lemberg by Minister of the Interior, General Skladowski, cleared the Jewish population of Lemberg from the charges of profanation or mockery at the Corpus Christi procession there on Sunday, which charges were the pretext for an assault on Jewish life and property in the capital of Eastern Galicia.
Contradicting the statement made yesterday by three Lemberg bishops, the Ministry of the Interior declares that an investigation conducted in Lemberg by the police and by the school authorities established the fact that there was no provocation on the part of the Jewish school girls, who watched the procession as it passed the Jewish high school. Forty-two witnesses were heard and there can be no assumption that the Jewish girls consciously desired to provoke the participants in the religious procession.
The statement declares further that the Minister of the Interior has issued emphatic instructions not to permit further anti-Jewish riots which are, he declares, contrary to the interests of the Republic and will be suppressed relentlessly. One policeman was seriously injured and six, including Police Commissioner Szydlowski, received slight injuries in a clash with a students’ demonstration today in Lemberg. Eight students were taken to the hospital.
The clash occurred when the national democratic students formed a street demonstration carrying placards with inscriptions against the government. Mounted police at first attempted to disperse the demonstrants but without success. The police then charged into the demonstration, meeting with a counter-attack on the part of the students who used knives, stones and iron bars in the fight. This was the second skirmish with the students within twenty-four hours. On the previous occasion a number of persons were injured.
The student demonstration was formed following a huge church procession held in the morning. In this procession 3,000 students participated. No disturbances occurred at that time.
The Minister of the Interior spent two hours in Lemberg and conferred with Governor Gluchovski and District Chief Kloz.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
