Jan 9, 2024
Around 200 demonstrators are gathered near the Presidential Palace in Nicosia to protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s scheduled meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides.
The crowd carries banners declaring Herzog “unwelcome” in Cyprus. Protesters chant slogans including “No to imperialist wars”, “Free Palestine”, “Cyprus, Palestine, solidarity”, and “Long live the friendship of peoples”.
“Christodoulides and his government will be judged as collaborators to the fascistic and genocidal state of Israel, who stood on the wrong side of history”, actress and politician Melanie Steliou told the crowd in her speech.
Additionally, actress Christina Christofia recited a poem by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer.
Herzog is set to meet Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace with discussions expected to focus on developments in Syria and broader regional issues, coinciding with Cyprus-Egypt intergovernmental talks and a trilateral summit between Cyprus, Greece, and Egypt in Cairo.
The protest, announced by the Cyprus Peace Council, drew members from several organisations, including main opposition party AKEL, youth movement EDON, and workers’ union PEO. Civil society groups including United for Palestine, Genocide Free Cyprus, KISA, Far Right Watch CY, and afoa were also present.
Security measures are heightened around the demonstration area, with police maintaining a heavy presence and several roads closed to traffic.
The Cyprus Peace Council, described Herzog’s visit as “a huge provocation” to Cypriots, who face their own struggle against occupation, and to people fighting for peace and justice worldwide.
The group called for an end to what they termed “genocide against Palestinian people and military operations by the Israeli state.”
Israel has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians, with 102,000 wounded, since the October 7 attack by Hamas. It has also killed around 3,000 in Lebanon and Syria, while around 3 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war. The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was seen leaving the Presidential Palace in Nicosia just now, with demonstrators chanting “killer go home”.
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