In 1916, the prohibitions increased in number, the people being forbidden to leave their houses after 6 p.m., or before 7 a.m.; to criticise the news published by the authorities, to remain at their windows, or to stand on their doorsteps, under a penalty of 5 to 10 days' imprisonment. They were also forbidden to use the trams without a special permit. These measures paved the way for the =deportations= of April-May, 1916. During Easter week, under the pretence that the revictualling of the population was difficult, the Governor decided to deport the inhabitants of Lille, Tourcoing and Roubaix into the country, and make them cultivate the soil. Rumours to that effect had been rife for several days previously, but the people would not believe it. However, all doubts were cleared away on April 20th, when posters warned the people to hold themselves in readiness with about 70 lbs. of luggage. The 21st was a day of painful suspense. On the 22nd at 3 a.m., German soldiers hemmed in the Fives Quarter, and placed =machine-guns= at the corners of the streets. House by house, street by street, amid blows from the butt-ends of their rifles, the Germans forced the people out of their houses. They were counted like cattle, and the number checked with the sheet posted up on each house. Those who were to go, mostly girls, were forcibly taken from their parents and led away between fixed bayonets, then loaded into cattle-trucks and sent to an unknown fate. Girls were taken from mothers and wives from husbands, with coldblooded indifference. It was in vain that the Mayor and the Bishop indignantly protested, the former to the Kommandantur and the latter from the pulpit. Methodically, this abomination was perpetrated. [Illustration: THE HÔTEL-DE-VILLE BURNING _on the night of April 24th, 1916_.] For ten days the people lived in mortal suspense, asking themselves if and when their turn would come. On Easter-Sunday night, the 64th German Infantry Regiment surrounded the Vauban Quarter, the horror of the scene being intensified by the Hôtel-de-Ville in flames. Each night, until April 30th, 1,800 to 2,000 persons were wrested from their homes. Although greatly depressed, the deported people recovered their courage as the trains left the station, and to the amazement of the Germans sang the _"Marseillaise"_ in a mighty chorus. Twenty-five thousand persons, mostly women and children, were forcibly taken from their homes and made to cultivate the soil, break stones, build bridges, make sand-bags, turn shells, etc., their only food consisting of a little black "bread," nauseating soup and broken scraps of meat. As soon as the French Government learned the facts, a Note was sent to the Neutral Powers, protesting against these inhuman deportations, which were ordered by _General Von Graevenitz_, and executed by the 64th Infantry Regiment, commanded by _Captain Himmel_.