Elam leader Christos Christou on Wednesday insinuated that Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos “attends LGBT fiestas” during a televised interview with the pair.

They were debating various matters on Sigma TV, with Papadopoulos raising the issue of Christou being present at the scandal ridden Osiou Avakoum monastery while the €807,000 in cash which was found there was being counted.

Christou had insisted at the time that he was present as a member of the clerical committee of the bishopric, but Papadopoulos made clear his doubt of this version of events.

He said Christou is not a committee member and that the other committee members were unaware that he was a member when asked.

He then added that in any case, “there is still an issue, because when a possible criminal offence is under investigation, the police were not there, but Elam was.”

“It is no coincidence that wherever Elam is, there are also men in balaclavas,” he added.

Christou returned fire, saying that men in balaclavas are “not a feature of Elam but a feature of another party”.

Asked to clarify, he said he was referring to “Akel during the Eoka struggle”, and added that there were no Elam members employed by the Tamasos bishopric, which oversaw the Osiou Avakoum monastery, but that the Elam members present worked for a security company.

“Some choose to attend LGBT fiestas and others go to the Tamasos bishopric,” Christou said.

The debate came a day after Papadopoulos had challenged Christou to debate the latter’s alleged proposal to give passports to immigrants so they leave the country.

The people saw with their eyes and heard with their ears the Elam leader proposing, as a solution to the issue of immigration, that passports and travel documents be given to all immigrants,” Papadopoulos said on Tuesday.

“Now we have revealed what dangerous things they have proposed, Elam’s only response is that their positions have been distorted.”