Chanting slogans against the US and Israel and in solidarity with the Palestinians, the Cyprus coordinating committee of students (Psem) marched to the US embassy in Nicosia to mark the 51st anniversary of the 1973 bloody Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military junta then ruling Greece.
Students from Cyprus universities joined in the march, holding the flags of Cyprus, Greece and Palestine. The event, which included songs, ended without any problem, with a strong police presence along the route of the march and outside the US embassy.
A Psem delegation handed a US embassy representative a resolution, while students laid red carnations in front of the police barricade.
Psem president Georgia Gregoriou said the embassy representative said “Keep the peace” on receiving the resolution.
“The Americans can’t talk about peace, when they are causing wars all over the planet,” Gregoriou said.
She added that the resolution also contains a mention on “the genocide happening in Palestine.”
Psem vice-president Apostolis Apostolou said the 1973 uprising constituted the culmination of the struggle of the people of Greece against dictatorship.
The junta buckled under the weight of its own responsibilities for the 1974 coup and Turkish invasion of Cyprus, he added.
On behalf of the University of Cyprus students’ union, Ephraim Christou said the junta was responsible for half of Cyprus being lost and that the struggle of the polytechnic was a guidelight for the younger generation.
Frederick university students’ union representative Andreas Panayides said the messages sent during the struggle in 1973 were as timely as ever and that “Israel, with the support of the USA, Nato and the EU, is murdering a whole people.”
Panayides criticised the decision of the Cyprus federation of student unions (Pofen) to dismiss an invitation to join in the march.
