- Title: CYPRUS: ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS.
- Date: 9th March 1970
- Summary: 1. GV PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE ARCHBISHOPRIC 0.03 2. LV ANOTHER ANGLE..OF ARCHBISHOPRIC 0.06 3. SV UPPER PART OF BUILDING 0.10 4. LV GYMNASIUM BUILDING 0.12 5. GV SIDE OF ARCHBISHOPRIC BUILDING SHOWING NEARNESS TO GYMNASIUM IN B/G. 0.16 6. SLV GYMNASIUM SHOWING LADDER REACHING FROM LOWER TO HIGHER ROOF 0.19 7. SV THE LADDER 0.24 8. SV ARMED SOLDIERS 0.25 9. SV HELICOPTER 0.30 10. MV ANOTHER ANGLE OF HELICOPTER 0.33 11. MV POLICEMAN AND OTHERS 0.35 12. MV BULLET HOLE IN FUSELAGE 0.40 13. SV ROTORS 0.41 14. MV COCKPIT DOORS 0.45 15. MV FUSELAGE 0.48 16. SV ARMED SOLDIERS 0.51 17. CU FINGER ON TRIGGER 0.52 18. CU HAND GRIPS GUN 0.54 19. SV POLICE ON GYMNASIUM ROOF 1.04 20. MV SOLDIERS 1.07 21. SV POLICE ON ROOF 1.10 22. SV SOLDIERS 1.13 23. SV MAKARIOS ARRIVES BACK AT ARCHBISHOPRIC 1.21 24. MV SPECTATORS 1.24 25. MV MAKARIOS OUT OF CAR 1.29 26. MV MAKARIOS ENTERS BUILDING WITH OTHERS (2 SHOTS) 1.37 27. GV PEOPLE OUTSIDE ARCHBISHOPRIC 1.40 Initials EH/VS/JF/ES Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th March 1970 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NICOSIA, CYPRUS
- Country: Cyprus
- Reuters ID: LVAMTWKCNJ5AVTYNLZ092D7WIJR
- Story Text: POLICE IN NICOSIA HAVE ARRESTED ELEVEN GREEK CYPRIOTS FOLLOWING AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT EARLY YESTERDAY ( SUNDAY ) ON ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS; THE ATTEMPT WAS FOILED BY THE PILOT, WHO WAS SEVERELY WOUNDED.
THE ATTACKERS WERE GUNMEN STATIONED ON A SCHOOL ROOFTOP SOME HUNDRED YARDS ( METRES ) FROM THE ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE.
THE ARCHBISHOP WAS ON HIS WAY BY HELICOPTER TO CONDUCT AN EARLY MORNING SERVICE AT MAKHERAS MONASTERY, 30 MILES (48 KILOMETRES) FROM NICOSIA, WHEN A HAIL OF BULLETS RIPPED THROUGH THE FUSELAGE, HITTING THE PILOT, ZACHARIAS PARPADOYANNIS. THE HELICOPTER MOMENTARILY SHUDDERED IN MID-AIR BEFORE THE PILOT, BLOOD POURING FROM SEVERE STOMACH A ROW OF NEARBY BUILDINGS HIDDEN FROM THE ATTACKERS. ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS WAS NOT HIT, BUT HIS ROBES WERE STAINED WITH BLOOD FROM THE PILOT'S WOUNDS. AS THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN, HE PULLED THE PILOT OUT AND FLAGGED DOWN A PASSING VAN TO RUSH HIM TO HOSPITAL, WHERE HE IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION.
THE ATTACKERS, MEANWHILE, HAD FLED THE SCHOOL ROOFTOP AFTER A BRIEF EXCHANGE OF FIRE WITH GUARDS AT THE PALACE. BEHIND THEM THEY LEFT A BREN GUN AND TWO RIFLES.
THE PRESIDENT LATER DROVE TO MAKHERAS, WHERE HE WAS DUE TO COMMEMORATE THE DEATH IN ACTION OF A HERO OF EOKA, THE GREEK CYPRIOT MOVEMENT WHICH FOUGHT AGAINST THE BRITISH FOR INDEPENDENCE IN THE 1950s
ON HIS RETURN TO NICOSIA ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS VISITED HIS PILOT IN HOSPITAL.
LATE LAST NIGHT THE CYPRUS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONDEMNED THE ATTACK. ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS ADDRESSED THE PEOPLE OVER RADIO AND TELEVISION.
THE MAKARIOS ADMINISTRATION HAS BEEN BATTLING FOR THE PAST YEAR TO CONTROL EXTREMIST GREEK CYPRIOTS WAGING A TERRORIST CAMPAIGN FOR A RETURN TO THE POLICY OF ENOSIS (UNION WITH GREECE).
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