Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003242550
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The New York Times and The Associated Press
DATELINE: VILNIUS, LENGTH: Medium
The White House sharpened its warnings against military action and protested the diplomats' expulsion.
Nervous legislators passed a resolution transferring power to the senior diplomat of independent Lithuania in Washington in case of emergency, and several of them walked about 100 yards from legislative chambers to a highway overpass to watch the column rumble through the city at 4 a.m.
On Friday, military helicopters had dropped thousands of leaflets reprinting Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's demand that Lithuanians turn in their firearms and his order for authorities to defend the Soviet constitution.
Communist Party members loyal to Moscow forcibly seized the Vilnius city party committee headquarters, which they had been sharing with the breakaway Communist Party of Lithuania.
The Parliament reported that Soviet plainclothes military officers abducted a Lithuanian who deserted from the Soviet army. The Lithuanian government has been sheltering deserters, and Soviet authorities set today Saturday as the deadline to turn them all in.
President Vytautas Landsbergis protested that "a certain kind of psychological warfare is being waged against Lithuania."
President Bush, speaking to journalists at a White House luncheon, said, "The brave men and women of Lithuania have made known their desire to re-establish the sovereignty of the republic of Lithuania. The United States stands with them and supports their right to self-determination.
"Any attempt to coerce or intimidate or forcibly intervene against the Lithuanian people is bound to backfire," he added.
by CNB