26 November 1955 During a short radio statement at 17.00 GMT on Saturday 26 November 1955, Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the newly appointed governor of Cyprus, announced draconian emergency laws to crush a growing revolt against British rule. The death penalty could now be applied for the possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives regardless…
24 May 1956 On Thursday 24 May 1956, Martin Clemens, the British commissioner of the Cypriot city of Nicosia, ordered the closing down of shops across several streets, and the expulsion of all inhabitants for three months. The draconian measure was described as a ‘collective punishment,’ a reprisal against the entire population for their supposed…
5 March 1956 On the evening of 5 March 1956, Britain began to jam Radio Athens’ broadcasts to Cyrpus, in order to silence the station which had championed the cause of anti-British insurgents calling for political union with Greece, a demand which was strongly supported by the vast majority of the island’s Greek population.1 Two…
2 February 1959 In 2010, in an interview with journalist Ian Cobain, Cypriot Petros Petrides talked about his horrific treatment when, still a schoolboy, he was detained by British troops in the coastal town of Famagusta on 2 February 1959. Petrides used to climb up on the roofs of the houses to shout slogans in…
13 January 1956 On 13 January 1956, six Greek Cypriot boys from Famagusta were birched under one of several emergency regulations introduced the previous month to stamp out an island wide rebellion against British rule. By July, Lennox-Boyd, the colonial minister, admitted that a total of 118 boys had been ‘sentenced to whipping,’ of whom…
13 June 1958 On 13 June 1958, during an insurgency against British rule in Cyprus, which had also exacerbated tensions between the Greek and Turkish communities, Major General Douglas Kendrew ordered a day and night curfew on the entire population of Nicosia ‘until further notice.’ He explained with typical British arrogance that ‘I am going…
9 December 1958 On 9 December 1958, Patrick Bourke, the Chief Justice of Cyprus, published the conclusions of an inquiry in to a massacre of unarmed Greeks outside the Turkish Cypriot village of Geunyeli. On 12 June thirty five Greek detainees had been released from the British Army’s custody into the countryside between two Turkish…
PUNITIVE EXPEDITION AGAINST INDONESIAN TOWN BURNS DOWN 1000 HOMES [ 13 December 1945 ] On 13 December 1935, Indian troops led by British officers, acting under the orders of Major General Douglas Hawthorn, burned down the town of Bekassi on the Indonesian island of Java. BRITISH BAN CYPRIOT COMMUNIST PARTY [ 13 December 1955 ]…
HUNDREDS OF GREEK CYPRIOTS DETAINED WITHOUT TRIAL [ 22 July 1958 ] At 1 am on 22 July 1958, Operation Matchbox commenced. The British Army’s orders were to detain anyone suspected of having any affiliation with the Greek Cypriot EOKA movement, an organisation which demanded the end of rule from London and for the island…
