THE ATTORNEY-general yesterday withdrew his demand for the footage of last Thursday’s demonstration outside the Israeli ambassador’s residence in Nicosia after strong objections from the journalists’ union, who said such a move would endanger reporters on the job.
On Saturday, Alecos Markides announced he would ask television stations to hand over the uncut footage of the night’s demo in which police clashed with protesters.
Four men were arrested, one of them for assaulting Nicosia Police Director Nicos Theodorides.
Two of the men arrested were injured in the ensuing clashes. One has already filed a suit against the police, while police have charged him with assaulting police officers, causing actual bodily harm, and disorderly conduct.
The journalists’ union reacted angrily to Markides’ demand, suggesting such a move would affect reporters’ work in the future and effectively put them in danger since they would be viewed as potential police informers.
Speaking after a meeting with Markides yesterday, the chairman of the union, Andreas Kannaouros, said the Attorney-general had found the union’s arguments strong and had decided to withdraw his demand for the footage.
He added that Markides told him he had given instructions for the procedure to be terminated so that time would be given to both sides to hold discussions in an effort to find the best solution.
According to Kannaouros, Markides assured him that there was no issue of “prosecuting or gagging the media, or violating journalists’ sources”.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
