The song in music by George Theofanous in poetry by Claire Angelidou which was written and is dedicated to the youngest hero and national martyr of the liberation struggle of EOKA 1955-1959, Dimitraki Dimitriadis, returned to the collective memory on the occasion of March 14, 1956. A 7-year-old flower was murdered by the British colonialists.
The song is contained in the album "HOES" which was released in a special edition together with the newspaper "Simerini" and had the support of Radio Proto, while part of the net proceeds from the sale of the cd were given to MELATHRON AGONISTON EOKA.
Who was the seven-year-old flower?
Dimitrakis Dimitriadis, the little hero, as Digenis calls him, was born in Larnaca in 1949. He was just seven years old, a student in the second grade of primary school, when he was shot by an English soldier during a demonstration.
His parents were divorced, his mother left for England and Dimitrakis lived with Chrystallos's grandmother Michael Koute and sold flowers to make a living. He was a calm child, but very adventurous.
After the exile of Archbishop Makarios, Metropolitan Kyprianou, Papastavros Papagathangelos and Polykarpos Ioannidis, on March 9, 1956, there was a great uproar in Larnaca, as in all of Cyprus. Pupils from all schools went on strike. On March 14, 1956, the children of the Kalogera Urban School, where Dimitrakis also studied, were followed by students of the Commercial High School in a militant demonstration. Security forces mobilized and the protesters took refuge in the church of Agios Lazaros and started ringing the bells. Soldiers surrounded the church and hurled tear gas at the students who were stoning them.
A group of children, including Dimitrakis, took refuge on Leontos tou Sofou Street, where a military car with armed soldiers overtook them and proceeded to Nikolaou Rossou Street, now Dimitraki Dimitriadis. The soldiers got out of their car and crouched behind the wall on the street corner. The older children left, shouting at Dimitrakis to follow them. But he continued to stone and one of the soldiers marked him on the head. The bullet passed just above his right eye. The students took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The British, in order to avoid new demonstrations, tried to bury the little hero at night. The priest refused, saying that no burial takes place after sunset. So, they turn to the undertaker and he pretends that he has no one to dig.
And they persistently said, "We have brought a man," a suffering man who trembled from the cold of the night.
The tragedy was shocking. The man who was violently abducted and brought to dig the grave was Dimitrakis' father.
Source: Sigmalive