Czechs to Remove Austrian Border Blockade

PRAGUE--The Czechoslavakian government said yesterday it will begin dismantling its fortifications along the border with Austria, and lawmakers recommended abolishing some of the toughest laws used to crack down on dissent.

Government spokesperson Marcel Jansen said the Interior Ministry was asked yesterday to start immediate removal of "technical equipment" along parts of the Czechoslovak-Austrian border. Such equipment includes concrete pylons linked with barbed wire and some electronic wire to detect trespassers.

This move comes one day after Parliament took the historic step of removing the guaranteed leading role of the Communist Party from the constitution.

Jansen refused to specify when and exactly where work on the border would start, saying it was likely to begin near the Slovak capital of Bratislava, a one-hour drive east of Vienna.

In May, Hungary started dismantling fortifications along its border with neutral Austria, its only point of contact with a Western country.

Czechoslovakia also has a long border with West Germany, but Jansen made no mention of action along that border.

The order to dismantle part of Czechoslovakia's portion of the Iron Curtain reflected the new foreign policy that Communist Premier Ladislav Adamec has promised to follow.

Adamec is due to name a new coalition government by Sunday that would include non-Communists and possibly members of the Civic Forum opposition group, which headed up 11 days of anti-government protests and a hugely successful general strike Monday.

The premier continued consultations yesterday after announcing that he could accept opposition suggestions on whom to include.

Civic Forum spokesperson Jiri Dienstbier said Wednesday night that the opposition wanted a civilian Communist in charge of the Defense Ministry and a non-Communist over-seeing police forces at the Interior Ministry.

Dienstbier reiterated past statements that the Civic Forum has no Cabinet aspirations, but he did not specifically exclude participation in the government by some of the experts who have worked with the opposition.