Yesterday’s incident of the beating of a young school pupil, a militant of the EDON Youth Organisation, which took place at the time of a school break, is the last straw that has fuelled our anger. The extremist fascist acts of violence, in whatever way these are expressed, are no longer isolated incidents and cannot finally be tolerated. The agencies and bodies of the state of an otherwise state governed by the rule of law must assume their responsibilities or else if the law of the jungle is allowed to prevail each and every one of us can imagine where things can lead to. .

Democracy and the free expression of opinions, in this specific case the handing out by the school pupil about the annual bi-communal peace and reunification mobilisation and excursion organised by EDON to Troodos, must not represent a political opportunity for exercising brute force by some so-called patriots who felt that their national beliefs were offended.

We warn that such serious cases cannot go unpunished. We unequivocally declare that we will not tolerate such unacceptable incidents by a small section which espouses fascist ideologies. In Cyprus today terror cannot be allowed to pass as a tool for the imposition of views and particularly destructive views.

In response to yesterday’s incident too, we call on the Minister of Justice to give an answer to the Cypriot people on what has happened with the public accusations made by AKEL about the activities of the ultra-right organizations in Cyprus. Has the investigation of the accusations been completed? Will the matter be brought to court? The Minister of Justice Mr. Ionas Nicolaou must send out a decisive message that such dangerous phenomena alien and dangerous to Cypriot society are resolutely combatted. If he cannot do so then he should declare so publicly and submit his resignation to the President of the Republic. In any case, he should have shown political sensitivity also with regards the failure to handle the tragic and criminal incidents in the Central Prison.

Furthermore, we also expect from the President of the Republic himself, besides expressing his frustration, to take concrete action. In particular, we expect that he states his position on the question of his Minister not assuming political responsibility. We also expect from the parties supporting the government that they will not show in this case as well the same deafening silence as they exhibited concerning the tragic events that have taken place in the last days in the Central Prison.