AN AD HOC co-ordinating committee of organisations opposed to far-right and racist activity will shortly be calling for the National People’s Front (ELAM) to be banned, Doros Polycarpou, the director of KISA (Action for Equality, Support and Antiracism) said yesterday.
Polycarpou said the ban will be called for on the grounds that ELAM “has open links with fascist groups at the broader European level” and “incites racial hatred by dishonestly linking immigration to local unemployment”.
“Of course, we’ve had neo-fascists and extreme right-wingers in Cyprus before, but what’s new is that this group has electoral aspirations, and is seeking formal political representation,” he said.
The setting-up of the co-ordinating committee was agreed by representatives of various organisations at an open meeting on Friday night at KISA. The meeting was called in response to an attack December 13 by around 12 people using clubs and sprays on two youths in Phaneromeni Square in old Nicosia.
The attack was reported to have been carried out with “military-style precision”, with one person ordering some of the group to form a protective cordon around those carrying out the attack on the two youths. All of the group were said to be wearing hoods and some had orange scarves around their faces.
Polycarpou said they also discussed the demonstration called by ELAM for December 27 “against illegal immigration” under the slogan “each foreign worker = an unemployed (Cypriot)”. It also focused on “the fact that for the first time we have an organised fascist organisation with links to other European fascists”.
In its website, ELAM denies any link with last Sunday’s attack, describing it as “a fight between unknown people”, and says it “categorically rejects violent behaviour”. It also says it is “a legal political movement which has stood two candidates in the Euroelections, and is free to invite the Hellenes of Cyprus to peaceful demonstrations.”
ELAM also praises the “forgotten heroes of EOKA B” – which participated in the coup d’etat against the government in 1974 – on its website, and refers positively to its connections and meetings with other far-right political parties. The website also contains links to the websites of nine European far-right parties and groups.
Polycarpou said all interested political parties and groups and trade unions would be asked to participate in the co-ordinating committee as an “anti-fascist initiative”. A formal announcement and invitation will be issued in the next few days, he said.
The committee will be organising a “dynamic and peaceful mass rally” on December 27 against the planned ELAM demonstration, “to send the message that we will not allow them to march through the town”.
