A LINE of lorries from all over Cyprus snaked around the Presidential Palace yesterday, with truckers determined that this was the only way for them to make their voices heard.
The drivers are demanding a suspension of EU harmonisation laws regarding their sector.
The mood yesterday was bullish, as the truckers ignored a government plea for a a 48-hour delay so it could examine their demands.
On one truck, a sign read: “Unfortunately, we are Greek-Cypriot self-employed w***ers. We do not work for the CyBC personnel or Cyprus Airways staff, we are not Turkish Cypriots and we are not bogus asylum seekers so we can take millions from the Cypriot taxpayer.”
There were no incidents, but angry drivers said it was about time people began to take notice of their problems.
Lorry driver Georgos Kokkinos told the Cyprus Mail: “We have gathered here today to make a peaceful demonstration in an effort towards solving our problem. The problems we have go way back to the previous government, who it seems were simply playing around with us and taking advantage of us.”
Asked why they were ignoring the government’s plea for more time, Kokkinos replied: “For the past year they have been asking us for time and still nothing has been done and they are now expecting us suddenly to believe that they will solve the problem in 48 hours? Since they will solve the problem in 48 hours, a 48-hour strike on our behalf won’t harm the situation either. On Wednesday, if the problem is solved, we’ll return to work.
“We shall request to see the President because everyone, particularly those who are against us, should realise that we are right and that our problems have to be solved.”
Another driver, Christos Christou, cried out: “The problem is getting out of hand. We cannot have the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.”
Lorry Drivers’ Union official Andreas Zenios told reporters that the continuous postponements by the Ministry were one of the reasons behind the strike.
“We have been going to the Ministry for the last two years to solve our problems. We agreed a package deal, which was taken to the government for approval and has been delayed. If the problem isn’t solved we will continue to strike.”
One driver, sitting on the Presidential Palace wall, told the Cyprus Mail: “We will see what happens today because they have been promising to help us for over a year now and nothing has been done. We will talk it out amongst ourselves and then decide our next move.”
