Poll: We support Palace protests but don’t ask us to go

SEVEN out of ten Cypriots are in favour of the demonstrations outside the presidential palace in the wake of the Mari naval base blast, even though only one in ten has taken part in one.

An Antenna TV poll of peoples attitudes to the demonstrations, released yesterday, also shows a strong correlation between party affiliation and attitudes towards the marches, with voters of all parties except AKEL strongly in favour of the march.

DISY voters were 94 per cent in favour, DIKO 88 per cent, EDEK 95 per cent and EVROKO 96 per cent. AKEL voters were 79 per cent against the demonstrations and 11 per cent in favour.

Asked about the outcome of the marches 46 per cent said they did not believe the demonstrations would have any results, while 41.5 per cent thought they would.

Asked what they thought of demonstrations by ‘The Indignant’ in recent weeks 70.1 per cent responded positively, 22 per cent negatively, while around eight per cent either did not know or gave no answer.

When asked if they though The Indignants’ gatherings would continue, 39.2 said definitely, 37.7 said more than likely, 10.5 per cent said more than likely they would not continue, 4.6 per cent definitely will not. Eight per cent did not answer this question.

Some 87 per cent of those who took part in Antenna’s barometer answered that they had not taken part once in any of the gatherings, while 11.8 per cent had, and 0.8 did not answer.

Of those who had not yet taken part in the demonstrations, 57.8 per cent said they were not interested in attending ,27.8 per cent said they had thought about it, 11. 5 per cent intended to go and 3.2 per cent did not answer.

As of yesterday, 6,895 Facebook users had confirmed their attendance at a demonstration on September 12. A further 2000 had indicated that they might attend.

With four days left until the next big march, it is possible several thousand more out of the 22,000 who have not yet responded to invitations could join the march, making this one of the largest demonstrations to date.

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.