Edek on Wednesday admitted that one of their officials had hit Elam’s spokesman Geadis Geadi but said it was in self-defence and had witnesses to prove it after the far-right party said they reported the incident to the police.
The incident took place on Monday in Larnaca after an event on the Cyprus problem.
Geadi reported that he was beaten by an Edek official as he was on his way to his car and sustained facial injuries. The alleged attack was reported to Larnaca police headquarters by Geadi who was accompanied by the head of Elam Christos Christou.
“This does not do justice to anyone,” Geadi told Sigma TV on Wednesday. “This cowardly attack is proof of Edek’s political ethos and ideals,” he said, adding these political ideals “refer to dark ages of the past that unfortunately are making a comeback”.
He refrained from elaborating further since the case has been reported to the police.
Geadi added that his party has been unjustly attacked and blamed for incidents it is not involved in and that the instigators are those who have cultivated hatred against Elam.
He refuted reports that Elam was behind attacks against other political persons at events, arguing that the party was being falsely accused.
He also referred to the incident in March 2014 when around 100 Elam members disrupted an event on the Cyprus problem in Limassol, where former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat was the main speaker. The demonstrators, who shouted slogans and held Greek flags, managed to enter the lobby of the venue and hurled a flare inside the hall, slightly injuring a Turkish Cypriot journalist. The incident led to the sacking of the then chief of police.
“No media reported that Elam was acquitted in that case,” he said.
He called for the rhetoric of hatred against Elam to stop.
Edek spokesperson Maria Panayiotou told the television station that Geadi’s accusation against the party’s municipal councillor were “baseless”.
“What he said does not correspond to reality,” she said adding that Geadi swore at and attacked the Edek official who responded in self-defence.
She added that there are witnesses willing to testify to the police.
Panayiotou called Geadi a “thug” and recalled the incident outside the Sigma TV station’s premises last May when he reportedly threatened Edek’s MEP candidate Natassa Ioannou following a disagreement during a news show.
