A ‘silent protest’, organised by CY Movement to Gaza, was held in Nicosia today for the Palestinian journalists who’ve been targeted and killed in Gaza.
Around 242 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since the war began, according to the UN, most recently the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif who was murdered last Sunday with his TV crew.
The protest attracted around 80-100 people – which was considerably more than expected, said the organisers, given the short notice and the fact that Nicosia is half-empty because of the holidays.
‘Those Who Target Journalists Fear the Truth’ proclaimed one of the signs held up by protesters. Others held up photos of journalists with the caption ‘Assassinated’.
The protest, held at the Starbucks traffic lights in the centre of town, was punctuated by several passing cars honking their horns – and their occupants cheering – in solidarity.
“This is a silent protest in order to honour all of the fallen journalists who have sacrificed their lives in order to share Israel’s crimes,” Matthew from Genocide Free Cyprus told the Cyprus Mail.
“And this [i.e. Israel] is a state that our government is currently supporting and is currently in bed with – in multiple ways, politically, economically, militarily.”
Indeed, the protesters’ most serious accusation was that Cyprus is directly complicit in the journalists’ deaths.
Even this week, there was a surveillance flight in connection with the Al-Jazeera murders, we were told. Flight data has allegedly shown that “the newly US-leased spy flight [facility] in Akrotiri was active just 30 minutes before the actual assault,” and may indeed have played a role in locating and targeting the journalists.
That said, Israel has claimed that Al-Sharif (though not his four colleagues) was a Hamas operative who was merely posing as a journalist.
“What Israel has previously claimed as Hamas operatives have also included 12-year-old children that they have decapitated,” replies Matthew. “So, if all of these are Hamas operatives – well, it’s honestly laughable that this excuse is still applicable.
“A post on X is not evidence,” he adds, speaking of the document that has been presented on social media, purporting to show Al-Sharif’s Hamas ties.
“What the IOF [Israeli Occupation Force] is doing is not ‘sharing evidence’. They’re just doing a media stunt, just like how the Israeli ambassador in Cyprus can go out and claim on TV – national TV – that there’s no starvation in Gaza, even though we’re seeing daily images of emaciated babies and children and adults…
“But we’re giving him the platform on our media to push his propaganda, for a state that is being investigated for genocide and war crimes – and Christodoulides and his government won’t give us the time of day, to even consider the grave implications of aiding this type of regime.”
The protest continued with participants forming a human chain on the pavement, presenting their signs to passing traffic.
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