NICOSIA - By assembling 1,000 demonstrators in front of parliament yesterday, the Autocephalos Orthodox Church of Cyprus compelled the house to postpone the enactment of legislation decriminalising homosexual sex in private between consenting adults, writes Michael Jansen.
The protesters - white-bearded priests in blue kaftans and stove-pipe hats, men carrying blue-and-white church flags, elderly women in black, and entire families logged out for church gathered at the hottest time of the day, sang hymns and called out at deputies arriving for the weekly session not to "vote for corruption". Most came from distant villages in buses provided by local parishes and shepherded by their priests.
The relatively small size of the protest showed the church had not been able to rally the faithful to its cause, and should encourage deputies to do the bidding of the Cyprus Association for Human Rights and "carry out their duty with courage."