CYPRUS: GREEK CYPRIOT PROTESTOR SHOT DEAD AS HE ATTEMPTED TO CLIMB A TURKISH FLAG-POLE IN UN-PATROLLED BUFFER ZONE

Record ID: 249968

  • Title: CYPRUS: GREEK CYPRIOT PROTESTOR SHOT DEAD AS HE ATTEMPTED TO CLIMB A TURKISH FLAG-POLE IN UN-PATROLLED BUFFER ZONE
  • Date: 14th August 1996
  • Summary: DHERINIA, CYPRUS (AUGUST 14, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV GREEK CYPRIOTS HURLING ROCKS TOWARDS TURKISH SIDE 0.11 2. SV LINE OF UNITED NATIONS TROOPS 0.19 3. SLV MAN WITH GREEK FLAG WRAPPED AROUND HIM THROWING ROCKS 0.25 4. LV LINE OF TURKISH CYPRIOT POLICE WITH RIOT GEAR 0.35 5. SV MAN IN GREEK FLAG TAUNTING TURKISH CYPRIOTS 0.45 6. LV TURKISH CYPRIOT POLICE WATCHING 1.03 7. SLV MAN THROWING ROCKS TOWARDS TURKISH SIDE 1.11 8. LV/SLV GREEK CYPRIOT SOLOMOS SOLOMOS RUNS TOWARDS TURKISH CYPRIOT SIDE/U.N. SOLDIER UNSUCCESSFULLY TRIES TO RESTRAIN HIM/SOLOMOS BREAKS AWAY AND BEGINS TO CLIMB TURKISH FLAGPOLE/SOLOMOS IS SHOT IN NECK BY TURKISH CYPRIOT, FALLS TO GROUND (AUDIO HEAVY GUNFIRE) 1.42 9. CAMERAMAN RUNNING (GROUND VIEWS) 1.49 10. LV U.N. SOLDIERS TRY AND KEEP OTHER GREEK CYPRIOTS BACK 2.05 11. LV/SLV/SV U.N. TROOPS TRY TO KEEP GREEK CYPRIOTS BACK/ U.N. TROOPS ADMINISTER TO WOUNDED COLLEAGUE/SOLDIER RADIOS FOR HELP 2.50 12. SV U.N. TROOPS TRY AND RESTRAIN GREEK CYPRIOTS 3.00 13. SLV U.N. SOLDIER LOADED INTO AMBULANCE 3.27 14. CU U.N. WOUNDED SOLDIER 3.36 15. SV SOLDIERS RESTRAINING MEDIA 3.41 16. SLV/SV SOLOMOS' BODY RETRIEVED AND CARRIED ALONG TRACK (2 SHOTS) 4.07 17. SV/CU MAN ATTEMPTS RESUSCITATION (3 SHOTS) 4.46 18. SV BODY CARRIED TO JEEP/ DRIVES OFF 5.18 19. LV/SV U.N. SOLDIERS REPLACE BARBED WIRE BARRICADE ACROSS ROAD (3 SHOTS) 5.44 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 29th August 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DHERINIA, CYPRUS
  • City:
  • Country: EUROPE Cyprus
  • Reuters ID: LVA9A43J63CMG8V5TX3TKHX10NF0
  • Story Text: INTRO: Security forces in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus opened fire on Greek Cypriot protesters storming the island's U.N.-patrolled buffer zone, killing one demonstrator and wounding several.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Greek Cypriot protester died after being shot at as he attempted to climb a flag-pole at the border on Wednesday (August 14) and two United Nations (U.N.) peacekeepers were wounded.

    It was the second death along Cyprus's buffer zone in four days and one of the worst scenes of violence since Turkey invaded the island's northern third in 1974.

    The shootings occurred after the nearby funeral of 24-year-old Tasos Isaac, a Greek Cypriot demonstrator beaten to death by men from the Turkish Cypriot side on the buffer zone on Sunday.

    Demonstrators massed at the border on Wednesday, throwing stones while blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers attempted to calm them. Turkish soldiers kept their distance on the other side of the border, many of them out of sight.

    When Greek Cypriot demonstrators began moving around the barbed wire marking the Turkish Cypriot border, the Turkish troops moved forward. Suddenly some opened fire as Isaac's second cousin, Solomos Solomos, tried to take down a Turkish flag on a sentry post on the edge of the Turkish Cypriot side.

    Hit in the neck, he died shortly afterwards whilst being carried by U.N. peacekeepers to an ambulance and driven to hospital.

    Hundreds of people, many dressed in black, had gathered in front of U.N. peacekeepers guarding the buffer zone. They fled in panic at the sound of the shots. Others threw themselves on the ground. Greek Cypriot riot police and young soldiers took up combat positions but did not return fire.

    At least three Greek Cypriots were wounded in the shooting, hospital and police sources said.

    Witnesses said a 59-year-old Greek Cypriot woman outside the buffer zone several hundred metres (yards) from Turkish positions was shot in the stomach. A Larnaca hospital official said the woman was seriously injured and undergoing surgery.

    Scores of Greek Cypriot policemen in riot gear failed to keep the angry mourners away from the buffer zone.

    The Anatolian news agency said a Turkish Cypriot photographer for the Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet was wounded by stones thrown from the other side.


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