With slogans such as “Freedom in Palestine, Stop the genocide”, “No involvement of Cyprus in war and genocide” and “Cyprus a bridge of peace, Not a base of war”, a protest event was held, organized by the Pancyprian Peace Council, near the Larnaca airport roundabout, just as Israeli President Isaac Herzog touched down in Cyprus.
Tasos Kosteas, President of the Pancyprian Peace Council, said that “we are here to send the message that Cypriots do not accept this barbarity that is happening today in Gaza and which in our opinion is nothing more and nothing less than a systematic extermination of the Palestinian people.”
He added that “what is happening is an insult to civilized humanity and we share the pain of the Palestinian people and send a message of solidarity to everyone in Gaza. We believe that as Cyprus, in a semi-occupied homeland with our strongest weapon being international law, we must condemn what the International Criminal Court has deemed a brutal crime against humanity.”
The event was attended by, among others, AKEL MPs. AKEL the main opposition party in Cyprus had called on Wednesday for protests against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the island , describing it as “provocative”.
In a written statement, AKEL stated that the party would support the two separate protests to be organized by the Cyprus Peace Council”
A strong police force was present at both the airport roundabout and the Kalo Chorio roundabout, while a police helicopter was flying over the area while the President of Israel was traveling with an escort to Nicosia.