Non-governmental organisation Accept – LGBTI Cyprus on Sunday reacted with fury to images of Easter bonfires, known as “lambradjies”, adorned with LGBT flags, describing them as “fires of hatred”.

“When LGBTQI+ flags are burned at the lambradjies instead of effigies of Judas, we do not have a custom, we have education in violence and in the making of fascists out of our youth. They are not ‘kids who do stupid things’, they are tomorrow’s voters, parents, police officers, and teachers,” it said.

It added that “when we applaud them today, we should not be surprised at the hateful policies for which they will vote tomorrow”, before lambasting various institutions in Cyprus for perceived inaction over the matter.

“The church, the unions, the political parties, and the state are not mere spectators to this. When they remain silent, when they ‘do not see’ what is burning at the top of a lambradjia, they send a message that some lives are worth less,” it said.

As such, it said that it expects the police to “implement the anti-discrimination law and the law on the spread of hatred”, and asked for “the prevention of such phenomena before they become a culture, through the sending of a circular by the police on lambradjies”.

Such a circular, it said, must “give instructions to local police stations to prevent and prohibit any form of placing of flags or symbols of any group, political party, or minority on the lambradjies”,

“Love is not icons and candles inside [church] while burning flags outside. Love is protecting your neighbour as yourself, especially when they are LGBTQI+, a refugee child, a woman, or anyone who could become a target,” it said.

It added that “if faith or ‘tradition’ does not fit these people, then the problem is not the people, it is the faith and the tradition”.

“This year, we are not being silent. We are photographing, denouncing, demanding from the police, the ministry, the church, the political parties, and local authorities to put an end to the lambradjies which are becoming a school of hate. Because the real easter is to defeat fear and fanaticism, not to burn people ‘by proxy’,” it said.