Students march to US embassy in November 17 protest

AROUND 400 students yesterday staged a peaceful demonstration outside the US embassy in Nicosia to mark the 30th anniversary of the student uprising against the American-backed Junta in Greece.

At least 23 people died and hundreds were wounded when tanks stormed the Polytechnic campus on November 17, 1973. The actual death toll has never been firmly established, but it is thought to be considerably higher.

The demonstrators met at Eleftheria Square yesterday morning and marched to the US Embassy waving Cyprus and peace flags and chanting slogans against the US, imperialism and NATO, like “NATO-CIA: Treason,” and “Our only enemy is imperialism”.

Student representatives said the example set by the heroes of the Polytechnic was the cornerstone for the struggle towards freedom and the re-unification of the island.
The students added US policy had paved the way for the invasion of Cyprus and called on Washington to put pressure on Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to accept a viable solution to the Cyprus problem.

The United States gave strong support to the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.

The Junta also instigated the 1974 coup in Cyprus, which sparked the Turkish invasion.
In January 1998, US Ambassador in Greece, Nicholas Burns, issued a public apology for Washington’s role during the time of the junta.

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.