Hundreds of demonstrators lined up outside the base of Akrotiri on Sunday to protest about the ongoing killing in Gaza and calling on the government to take action against military action launched from the bases.
Yelling ‘Out, out, out, British bases out’ and ‘Freedom in Palestine’, the demonstrators stood in a line holding banners and flags.
“The large military activities carried out these days on the ground and air around the Akrotiri bases as well as the large concentration of US military forces in our country to prepare for a broader war, heightens the feeling of concern that Cyprus may become a target for an attack,” organisers the Cyprus Peace Council said on Wednesday announcing the protest.
“We are here, right outside the British Air Force airport in Akrotiri, because from here British spy planes are assisting the occupying Israel in gathering information on the ‘operations’ in Gaza. Because hundreds of tons of bombs and ammunition have passed through here to aid the total destruction of Gaza,” Akel’s Haris Karamanou told protestors.
“We are here because we do not accept the use of the territory of our island as a base of war against other peoples – to demand that President Christodoulides state clearly that he does not accept the use of bases to murder people. Military bases are an ugly remnant of colonialism and must be dismantled, removed from our Cyprus,” he added.
This is not the first time a protest has been carried out at the bases. In January, some 500 people marched to Akrotiri bases to protest the British Bases turning Cyprus into an “aggressive launch pad” for the war in Gaza.
A protest was also carried out last month over US military presence, after its amphibious assault ship, USS Wasp arrived in Limassol.
