MOSCOW (AP) – Soldiers charged thousands of protesters in the Gororgian capital early Sunday, and at least 16 people were killed in a crushing melee of clubs, shovels, sticks and stones, official sources and activists said.

“They threw themselves on our people like beasts, and our people couldn’t do anything,” said Leda Archvadze in a telephone interview from Tbilisi, capital of the southern republic that lies on the Turkish border.

The official Tass news agency said a curfew was in effect Sunday night. Residents flew black flags in mourning, troops and tanks reportedly patrolled the streets, and activists called for a general strike.

One activist said 50 people died in the clash in Lenin Square.

Natural gas explosion

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – An explosion apparently caused by natural gas rippped a 40-foot section from a motel Sunday, injuring 31 people, and firefighters searched cautiosly through the rubble for the one man believed missing.

The blast occurred four minutes after someone phoned Montana-Dakota Utilities at 1:07 a.m. and reported a strong smell of natural gas, said Dick Blee, the acting Billings fire chief. Firefighters controlled the blaze by 4 a.m.

Blee said a truck belonging to an unidentified man was in the parking lot of the three-story Super 8 Motel. All others among about 60 people registered were accounted for, officials said.

Two people were hospitalized and 29 others were treated and released at the city’s two major hospitals, authorities said.

South African independence

WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) – South Africa agreed Sunday to allow black nationalist guerrillas safe passage from northern Namibia to Angola in an offer aimed at preserving plans for Namibia’s independence.

The proposal could bring an end to the fighting between South African-led security forces and guerrillas of the South-West Africa People’s Organization. The violence has threatened to derail the U.N.-supervised plan for Namibian independence from South Africa.

There was no immediate comment on the offer from the South-West Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, which has been fighting for independence since 1966.

However, the withdrawal plan appeared similar to a proposal made earlier Sunday by guerrilla leader Sam Nujoma, who called on his fighters to stop firing, regroup and allow themselves to be escorted into Angola by U.N. personnel.

Proposal for peace

CHICAGO (AP) – Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir arrived here Sunday for a 26-hour visit to meet with the local Jewish community and discuss his recently proposed peace plan.

Gov. Jim Thompson and Mayor Eugene Sawyer stood on a red carpet at chilly O’Hare International Airport as strong winds threatened to blow it away while Shamir and his advisors descended from a U.S. Air Force jet.

Shamir also was greeted by about 20 Israeli children waving their country’s flags and singing “Shalom”

“Everwhere in the U.S. I feel myself among friends,” Shamir said.

Soldiers remembered

SPRNGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – A simple black and white flag was raised at the Capitol on Sunday in memory of the hundreds of Illinois soldiers who never came home from war.

Several hundred people, including families of prisoners of war of those missing in action in various battles were on hand for the ceremony outside the Visitors Center just west of the Capitol building.

The flag will fly until all Illinois’ missing servicemen are accounted for, said Secretary of State Jim Edgar who raised the flag with the help of a Decatur couple whose son was shot down in Vietnam in 1972 and hasn’t been seen since.

“It is to be a reminder both of the bravery of our men and women in uniform and of the need to never forget those still left behind,” Edgar told those gathered at the ceremony.