Georgios Charalampous (Flasou)

He was born in the village of Agios Epifanios¹ of Solea, near Flasos, Nicosia district, on March 16, 1932.

He died on November 5, 1955 at the Nicosia General Hospital², from wounds inflicted by British soldiers.

Georgios Charalampous attended the Flasos primary school and worked as a carpenter. He lived in the village of Kyra³ in the Morphou district, where he was engaged to Chrystalla Ioannou and was preparing to get married on October 30, 1955. In the struggle, he collaborated with a student group from the Morphou Teachers' College.

In October 1955, Digenis had given orders for militant demonstrations, even in the event of intervention by the authorities, on the occasion of the anniversary of October 28, 1940. The British authorities in Cyprus did not allow the celebration of the glorious anniversary and, as Digenis characteristically states, “it was obvious that the tyrant wanted to stifle the national celebration in blood.”

In the town of Morphou⁴, the EOKA leader at the time was the Greek high school teacher, Vasilios Barpanis, who organized the demonstration. In this demonstration, the students of the Morphou High School and the students of the Teachers' College, who were joined by many citizens, marched towards the police station and forced the police officers and the British soldiers stationed there to leave the station.

As they were leaving, bombs were thrown at them, two of which exploded. In the meantime, a group of demonstrators tried to set fire to government buildings. The British soldiers fired into the crowd, wounding three people, one of whom was Georgios Charalampous, who died a few days later, on November 5, 1955, at the Nicosia General Hospital, where he had been transferred.

His death inflamed anger and steeled the will to continue the Struggle, which was still in its first phase.