1.
SV Troops pass in armoured cars (2 shots)
0.05

2.
SV Makarios watching
0.08

3.
SV Troops on trucks past (2 shots)
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4.
SV Trucks past towing field guns (3 shots)
0.27

5.
SV Makarios watching
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6.
SV Truck past towing antiaircraft gun
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SV Troops in land-rover saluting
0.42

8.
SV Band marching past, followed by Greek in antry and National guard (4 shots)
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9.
SV Troops past carrying rocket-launchers
1.01



Initials 1427 OS/1433



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Cyprus yesterday (Saturday) celebrated the 17th Anniversary of Eoka Day - marking the April 1, 1955, uprising against British rule.

The President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios - who has been under considerable political and ecclesiastical pressures in the last few weeks - attended the military parade which included Greek contingents. On Friday, he had also announced an amnesty for a number of Greek Cypriots charged with offence against the State, including two journalists who are charged with published articles insulting to the President.

Some sources reported that the amnesties were a result of secret meetings between Archbishop Makarios and Enosis ("Union with Greece") leader General George Grivas in the last two days - but a Government spokesman yesterday denied that any such meeting had taken place. General Grivas - who lead the 1955 independence uprising, but who was expelled from the Island in 1967 following a Greco-Turkish agreement - is rumoured to have arrived in Cyprus last week. Last year he made an unexpected appearance at the Eoka Day parade.

SYNOPSIS: The Eoka Day parade in Nicosia on Saturday - celebrating the seventeenth anniversary of the uprising against British rule. President Makarios, who has been under considerable political and ecclesiastical pressures recently - watched the display of the Island's military strength.

President Makarios was reported to have held secret meetings with General Grivas the leader of the 1955 uprising, who now lives in Athens and is the head of the Enosis movement which advocates union with Greece. These reports have been denied by the Cypriot government. But some observers felt that the strong showing of Greek infantry and National Guard units in the parade, plus the President's announcement of an amnesty for political prisoners, was a sign of a softening in the conflict between the pro-Enosis and pro-independence factions in the community.