The 1974 murder of police officer Dimosthenis Georgiou in Paphos

On September 8, 1974, in the aftermath of the military coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, 32-year-old special police officer Dimosthenis Georgiou was murdered in the village of Mesa Chorio, Paphos. Armed members of the EOKA B organization entered the community at night, terrorizing residents with gunfire. Georgiou was fatally shot outside the Church of Agia Marina in the presence of his wife.

The killing sparked widespread public outrage and intense unrest in Paphos, with citizens gathering at the local police station in an attempt to storm the facility. Investigations into the incident led to the arrest of eight individuals, of whom one was eventually convicted. Journalist Antonis Assos, a former member of the Reserve Corps tasked with protecting President Makarios, later documented the event and the surrounding political climate in his 2026 work, "The Forgotten Uprising of 1974, Paphos, September 8.

This incident is highlighted as part of the violent activities conducted by remnants of the junta and EOKA B during a period of extreme political instability in Cyprus. The documentation serves as a historical account of the resistance efforts and the internal conflicts that plagued the region following the events of the summer of 1974.