President defends silence over attack on bicommunal event

PRESIDENT Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday condemned the bomb hoax and vandalism during a bicommunal event on Wednesday night, following criticism from opposition DISY, one of the organisers, over the delay in commenting.

“The government condemns in the strongest possible manner the vandalism that occurred,” he said.

Wednesday’s ‘Together for Peace’ music event, which was organised by DISY and the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) was disrupted shortly after 10pm when a Greek speaking man telephoned Sigma television saying there was a bomb at the venue, the Melina Mercouri hall.

The bomb squad arrived on the scene to investigate, but the search turned up nothing, and police gave the all-clear for the event to resume.

However it was discovered that 13 car tyres had been slashed and leaflets with written obscenities had also been stuck to the cars.

“We condemn such actions, especially when they attack rapprochement between the two communities”, said Papadopoulos.

DISY on Thursday had criticised the government, and the majority of the political parties for not speaking out to condemn what had happened.

Justice Minister Doros Theodorou also condemned the attack yesterday
He said the reason there had been no official comment was because spokesman George Lillikas was indisposed and the newly-appointed Palace spokesman had not official taken over his duties yet.

“It was not a question of lack of sensitivity over what happened,” he said.

“The government condemns any such behaviour that creates problems between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots,” Theodorou said.

On the contrary he said the government wanted contacts to flourish and to reach a level which will allow the two communities to live together easily in the framework of a solution.
The Minister said police were continuing to look into Wednesday’s attack. He also said what happened could have been avoided if the police had been informed beforehand of the event because prior measures could have been taken.

“This is not an excuse but it would be a good idea in future if police were briefed about these events because it is not the first time such incidents have happened,” he said.
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