Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Deputy Ministry of Culture in Nicosia at 17:00 on Monday to protest against what they described as a climate of fascist intimidation and censorship targeting painter George Gavriel.
The rally, organised by the “Alliance Against the Far-Right, Fascism and Racism,” follows a firecracker attack on Gavriel’s home last Thursday evening.
The explosion, which occurred while the artist was inside with his family, took place amid a fierce political debate over his recent exhibition, “Antisystemic Art.” The show was abruptly cancelled by a Paphos gallery on 14 December, following threats and heavy criticism from political parties, including the far-right ELAM and the conservative DISY.
The atmosphere at Monday’s protest was briefly tense as a group of roughly 10 counter-protesters staged a demonstration nearby. Holding religious icons, the group chanted slogans such as “sacrilege is not art” and “respect our faith,” echoing sentiments expressed by DISY MP Efthymios Diplaros, who recently labelled the works “crude blasphemy.”
The current incident is the latest chapter in a conflict between the artist and state institutions. Gavriel, who served as a public school headmaster, was previously the subject of a high-profile disciplinary probe by the Ministry of Education in 2020. That investigation, which sought to punish him for paintings depicting religious and political figures in “anti-establishment” contexts, was only dropped in 2021 after widespread domestic and international condemnation.
The Deputy Ministry of Culture has faced criticism for its silence on the matter, with AKEL calling the lack of a government response a “failure to defend democratic freedoms.”
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University academics condemn attack on artist Gavriel and call for defence of free expression
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