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Parades as Cyprus marks Ochi day

October 29, 2021

A number of church services and school parades took place on Thursday to mark Ochi (No) day, when Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas rejected the ultimatum given by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on October 28, 1940, demanding the Axis Powers enter Greece to take up strategic positions.

“Today we honour Greek virtues,” President Nicos Anastasiades told reporters following a church service held at the Apostolos Varnavas Cathedral on Thursday morning, “virtues that translate into love for the homeland, magnified through a unity that is our lifeblood and teaches us that ‘heroes fight like Greeks’”.