Protesters gathered on Tuesday afternoon outside the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, in a peaceful protest against the convening of the "Peace Council" for Gaza in a Cypriot resort, from June 30 to July 1.
The protest came at the request of organizations, parties and collectives, which denounce the initiative as a process that they say bypasses the UN, excludes Palestinians and gives political legitimacy to plans that contravene international law.
The participants held Palestinian flags and banners with slogans such as "Freedom for Palestine", "Silence is complicity – Freedom in Palestine", "No submission to imperialism – The only superpower is the people", "We condemn Christodoulides' support for the genocide – Not in our name" and "Palestine: 75 years of hostage – Not in our name".
During the rally, pro-Palestinian slogans were heard, including "Freedom in Palestine", "Stop the genocide, free Palestine", "Israel kills civilians and children" and "With Palestine to freedom". As part of the event, poems were also recited by the actress Popi Avraam.
On behalf of the Social Alliance and as coordinator of the protest, Melanie Steliou said that the so-called, as she said, Gaza Peace Council "is not an honest international initiative", arguing that it bypasses the United Nations, excludes the Palestinians and gives Israel, as an occupying power, a place at the negotiating table.
Ms. Steliou said that the protesters are asking the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to withdraw its support for the initiative and to respect, as she said, international law, UN resolutions, the immediate and permanent ceasefire and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. "We demand justice, we demand peace, we demand freedom in Palestine," he said.
Stefanos Evangelides, on behalf of ACCEPT, said that the protesters gathered outside the Presidential Palace "for Gaza, for the dead, the hungry, the uprooted", but also for something that, as he said, is being done in Cyprus "with the signature of our own Government".
He said that after World War II, the international community set rules so that, as he said, the massacre of civilians, the starvation of a people, land grabbing and genocide would not be allowed. He argued that international law is "the only shield" of Cyprus and added that the country, as an island that has experienced partition and unenforceable resolutions, cannot remain silent in the face of its violation.
Mr. Evangelidis also said that "a friendship that seeks to betray our principles was never friendship", noting that the movements are there to keep alive the promise "never again to anyone". "We are not silent. We do not consent. Not in our name, not on our territory," he said.
Nikos Trimikliniotis, on behalf of Far Right Watch Cy, said that the rally took place because, as he claimed, the legalization of the "Peace Council" takes place in Cyprus. He said the process was not a peace initiative, but a "direct attack" on what he said was left of international law and the United Nations framework.
Mr. Trimikliniotis argued that the so-called Peace Council is a "personal tool" of the American President, Donald Trump, and a mechanism that attempts, as he said, to decide the political future of the Palestinian people without the Palestinians themselves. He added that the Cypriot people know what it means for others to plan for their future "behind their backs" and called on the Republic of Cyprus to refuse any political legitimacy of the initiative.
In a collective statement read on behalf of the organizers, it was said that the US-led initiative is, according to them, a "flagrant violation of international law" and a "direct attack within the framework of the United Nations".
The organisers argued that, despite the Cypriot Government's position that it is not an organiser or co-organiser, support for the Council, observer status and facilitation of the summit constitute a dangerous validation of a "legitimate" body.
Finally, they called on the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to immediately withdraw its support for the initiative, not to provide space or political legitimacy to its activities and to reaffirm its commitment to international law, UN resolutions, an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the unhindered provision of humanitarian aid and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
