AKEL message on the Easter holiday AKEL C.C. Press Office, 19th April 2020, NicosiaOn the occasion of the Easter holidays, AKEL addresses to all the Cypriot people warm wishes for health, prosperity, peace and the vindication of our homeland.
This year the pandemic is hindering the mass congregations for the Easter religious services, the holding of popular Easter customs and large family gatherings.

However, the message of love and hope for the celebration of Easter can and must find expression in the solidarity we must express towards our fellow citizens, towards all those going through personal and family difficulties, suffering health problems, facing job insecurity, financial hardship, poverty and unemployment.
The message of love and hope must find expression towards every fellow human being, regardless of religion, language or nationality. The meaning of Easter is expressed in love and solidarity, which by definition has a universal and anti-racist message.

We warmly welcome the multifaceted social solidarity initiatives by citizens and organized groups to support and protect the elderly, vulnerable groups and patients, as well as those in greater need, in these difficult times.

We send a special message of gratitude and solidarity to the healthcare workers, nurses and doctors who are at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic. To the workers in the supermarkets, bakeries, pharmacies and in the retail trade. The recognition of their contribution will be meaningful only if it is part of the wider effort to support the public health system and safeguard the modern rights of every working person. AKEL will continue to work and struggle for these rights.
In these days our thoughts goes to every corner of the world that is being tested by unjust wars, displacement of people, misery and ecological disaster. The pandemic ordeal adds new dangers and challenges to the day after; dangers for the peoples and their social prosperity, for democratic freedoms and human rights, for international cooperation. At the same time, however, this ordeal can and must make the whole of humanity wiser. It must lead to profound changes, both locally and globally. It must put people, their health and needs at the centre of political struggle, economics and science. International cooperation and the friendship of states and peoples must be strengthened. It must lead to a new page of progress and unity, in the history of human civilization.
This is our wish and hope.
With these thoughts, AKEL wishes everyone a happy Easter.