By Tania Khadder
PROTESTERS were back outside the American embassy to protest against the war yesterday, but unlike Wednesday’s demonstration, yesterday’s protest – apart from the odd egg launched at police – was a peaceful one from start to finish.
An overwhelming majority of the crowd of around 300 was made up of school-aged teens in uniform, though there was the occasional twenty-something sprinkled throughout.
Police blocked off access to the embassy with a ring of barbed wire and officers in riot gear, while protesters gathered in the surrounding areas, playing music and chanting slogans.
“We will come everyday if we have to, because we cannot sleep at night when Iraq is being bombed,” the voice on the loudspeaker cried.
One student held a sign that said “Bush/Blair you have blood on your hands,” while others said “Stop the war” and “Make love not war”. A long banner lined the barrier between the embassy and the crowd, painted with colorful flowers and messages for peace. Some protestors waved Greek flags, and one young lady walked around with the Cypriot flag draped around her body. Early in the protest, a group burned the American flag.
Many of the protesters were enthusiastic about the role of such demonstrations, and emphasised the commitment of young Cypriots to the anti-war movement.
“We are here to show the world that young people in Cyprus care about what is happening,” Myrto Achnioti, a 14-year-old student said. “This is the first time so many people are coming out to protest. It wasn’t like this last year when war started in Afghanistan.”
“The anti-war movement in Cyprus is quite strong,” Kyriacos Kiliaris, a core member of the Stop the War Alliance, added. “It started with just a few small demos, but now it has grown without the help of any mainstream political party.”
Some, however, were sceptical of how widespread a sincere anti-war sentiment actually was amongst the young people on the island.
“There are thousands of students in Nicosia, but here today we only see a few hundred,” George Bakais, a 23-year-old student at Americanos College said. “Most of the young people have used this as an opportunity to go home for the day.”
Nevertheless, all were united in their purpose, and blamed the United States for what they see as an unjust war.
“We are here to say to Bush that we choose our leaders and our destiny, and it is not right for him to choose. If he wants to make peace he should go to Palestine first,” said Tawfic Abdel Ghafom, a 22-year-old Palestinian student, also from Americanos College.
“We are sending the message that there is a power below that won’t accept this unfair war,” added Kiliaris. “We want Bush and Blair to know that there will be a political cost to all of this. We want everything to be paralyzed until this war stops.”
One 18-year-old student from the Higher Technical Institute, Eftychios Georgiou, drove to Nicosia from Limassol with his friends, and tied himself to a pole with duct tape. He wore a sign on his chest that read “Give Bread Not Bombs,” and likened his symbolic act to that of a protester in Baghdad who tied himself to the United Nations building with chains.
Although only half-serious in his act of defiance, his concern over the consequences of the war was genuine.
“Just like Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, the only casualties in this war will be women and children.”
The third day of protest in as many days of bombing is to take place today at 11.30am at the Lefkotheo Stadium in Nicosia, with a demonstration put together by the Stop the War alliance.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
