Limassol’s city centre is under tight police surveillance in anticipation of the memorial event for Georgios Grivas Digenis, amid concerns over potential disturbances reminiscent of last year’s incidents.
Specifically, the area of Ayios Nikolaos, where the memorial is taking place, and the route of the procession towards the general’s grave have been cordoned off by robust police forces. The presence of the “Aiantas” water cannon is also notable.
Access to the memorial site is strictly regulated, with entry allowed only after thorough body checks.
The police are taking precautions to prevent a repeat of the disturbances witnessed last year during Grivas’s memorial.
An operational plan has been formulated by police to ensure public safety and maintain order throughout the event.
Georgios Grivas (non de guerre: “Digenis”) was the leader of the Greek Cypriot nationalist guerilla organisation EOKA. Considered one of the most divisive and significant figures in 20th-century Cyprus, Grivas is lauded for his fight against British colonial rule and criticised for his involvement in killing Turkish Cypriots and communists.
A specialist in asymmetric warfare, he was, alongside Archbishop Makarios, one of the main actors in the Cypriot War of Independence, securing the freedom of the island against the British Empire.
Following Cyprus’ independence he became Chief of the National Guard and orchestrated attacks against Turkish Cypriots during the 1963-1964 and 1967 periods of intercommunal violence.
During a stay in Greece in World War II, Grivas founded and led the Organisation X, a far-right anti-communist royalist organisation. Initially an anti-Axis resistance organisation, it gradually shifted its focus towards anti-communism and played an active role in the persecution of communists during the White Terror and various military operations of the Greek Civil War.
He is also condemned for his role in forming the EOKA B ultra-nationalist paramilitary organisation that plotted the 1974 coup d’etat against the Makarios government.
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