Mass crowds turn out for AKEL demo

A BUZZ hung over Eleftheria Square in the capital last night as the AKEL faithful patiently waited for the proceedings to mark the anniversary of the coup and the invasion to begin.

The slightly subdued mood shifted a gear as a group of about 200 youths marched into the square carrying flags and party emblems.

Donning black shirts that read “Remember the betrayal of 1974,” the youngsters were members of EDON, the youth branch of the communist party.

An AKEL delegate greeted the vanguard as it made its way through the crowd, stopping right below a massive stage.

The event marked the anniversary of the July 1974 coup that precipitated the Turkish invasion.

Speakers blazed patriotic songs, as the EDON youths chanted slogans like: “Attila, out of Cyprus!” and “People will never forget the fascists and the tanks!”

The crowd rose to its feet when the announcer presented AKEL leader Demetris Christofias.

Stepping up to the mike, the veteran politician proceeded to denounce the “bloody coup” and the “fascist and chauvinist forces” who executed it, perpetrating a crime against the people of Cyprus.

“This nation has suffered enough,” he declared, adding that both Greek and Turkish Cypriots had paid the price for the events of 1974.

“The Turkish Cypriots are our brothers… we were born of the same mother,” said Christofias, calling on the Turkish Cypriot leadership to join efforts to reunite the island.
Summing up the aftermath to the 2004 referenda, Christofias said AKEL was committed to a federal solution.

The speech was followed by a music concert, featuring the popular Greek singer Maria Farandouri.

The event drew a considerably larger turnout than in previous years, with the square packed from the pavement on Regina Street right up to the traffic lights beside the Venetian walls.

It was the first mass gathering of AKEL supporters in the run-up to next year’s presidential elections in which Christofias is a candidate, although few election chants were heard, save for the familiar “AKEL, now and forever!”

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.