East German police arrest pro-Solidarity unionists

East German security police have arrested some trade union activists and intellectuals who are active supporters of the Polish free trade union Solidarity, the West Berlin Working Group for Human Rights said.

Seven workers from four major industrial enterprises in various parts of the country were arrested for discussing ways of democratizing the Communist Free German Trade Union Federation along the lines taken by Solidarity, the group said. It also said that a Weimar medical consultant was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison in January for contributing $4,000 to the Polish union. News of his arrest had just reached the group.