Panagiotis Zacharia

He was born in the village of Avgorou¹, in the province of Famagusta. A possible date is 1913.

He was killed in his hometown² on July 5, 1958, by gunfire from British soldiers.

Panagiotis Zacharia studied at Avgorou primary school and was a farmer. He joined EOKA at the start of the Struggle and offered his services together with his children and wife. Anastassi’s son was a member of the strike groups of the area and his younger children, Androula and Georgios, belonged to the Alkimim Neolea of EOKA, ANE. In his orchard he hosted wanted persons, while in his house he kept a crypt, where they kept a polygraph for printing brochures of the Organization, which were distributed in the surrounding villages.

In order to implement the order of Digenis for a general uprising of the civilian population, the local organization of EOKA Avgorou placed on Friday, July 4, 1958, slogans in the center of the village. English soldiers came and took them down. The next day new slogans were posted and the women prepared to stone the soldiers.

The soldiers returned the next day, July 5, 1958, arrested Kyriakos Makris, a fifteen-year-old boy, and pushed him up a ladder to take down the slogans. At his refusal, the women rushed, snatched him from the hands of the English and fled. Then they rang the bells as a signal, the villagers gathered and started stoning the soldiers.

The clash turned into a real battle. The English soldiers piled into their armored vehicles and opened fire on the unarmed crowd, killing Panagiotis Zacharias and Loukia Papageorgiou and wounding eighteen other people.

Their death shocked the entire Cypriot people, while at the same time fueling their fighting spirit and will for freedom.