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                  #680, Nineteenth, from London             
 
                                                            
 
 
The government refused and matters reached a deadlock. But 
      it was not even this that brought about the final split in the 
      government. The final split was this: that on 1st December the 
      next day the EAM civil police refused to hand over their arms 
      to the national guard. It is worth looking at this because the 
      decision that they should over their arms had been reached unanimously 
      by the government including EAM Ministers as long ago as 5th 
      November. At this point the EAM police had not been an issue 
      during the negotiations about the disarmament of the guerilla 
      armies at all. It was also known that the same morning EAM were 
      going to call a general strike. It was faced with this that M. 
      Papandreou circulated to all his collogues a draft decree re-affirming 
      the government's decision that the EAM police should hand over 
      their arms a decision nearly a month old. The EAM Ministers refused 
         to ratify the decision and that night resigned.    
 
                                                            
 
 
                Mr. Driberg (Maldon): rose -                
 
                                                            
 
 
Mr. Eden: I want to say one more thing about the EAM police 
      because I want the committee to note that it is my contention 
      that it was over this issue of the EAM police that the break 
      occurred and that it was the police themselves who were largely 
      responsible for taking hostages and the methods of their custody. 
      I must say that during the long negotiations about a truce when