DISY LEADER Nicos Anastassiades went over the top on Sunday with his no-holds barred attack on the government, the Attorney General and the police. His angry outburst came immediately after attending a memorial service for five victims of the Mari blast, but despite his feelings he should have exercised some restraint when speaking in front of the cameras.
He said the attempt of the police investigation, to put the blame on the certain victims of the explosion was the work of “sick minds” and “bullies”. He also labelled the president a “scoundrel” and wondered “where the country is heading with such brainless leaders”. This was not what we expected to hear from Anastassiades, a party leader who had come to be regarded as the voice of reason.
Apart from undermining his public image, as the politician who resorts to rational argument and shuns emotional sloganeering, the DISY chief lowered the level of the debate about the reports into the blast and allowed AKEL to take the moral high ground. Worse still, he was in effect doing exactly what he had accused the government of doing by slamming the police report – showing a lack of respect for the work of a state institution.
AKEL spokesman Giorgos Loucaides seized the opportunity offered by Anastassiades and accused him of “resorting to abuse … fanaticism and hatred while calculatingly creating a crisis”. He also pointed out the double standards, asking: “What has happened to the excessive sensitivity to the need for respect of institutions?” A legitimate question, but AKEL, which demand a retraction, and the government are not exactly in a position to take the high ground on this matter.
Anastassiades yesterday apologised for the unseemly language he used, blaming this on the emotional strain he was under, but said his message remained the same. Of course the problem was that the message was an attack on the police report about the blast and the Attorney General, and he was in effect showing little respect for state institutions. He was not the only one to react in this way – several deputies and other party leaders have done the same, though in politer language – but the only consequence of this was to give ammunition to the government camp.
The hostile reaction to the police report should have been avoided, regardless of how offensive some found its content. Opposition politicians needed to show the same respect to the police report that they demanded the government showed to the Polyviou conclusions. They did not, indicating the magnitude of the problem we face – that politicians respect institutions only when it suits their political objectives.
