THREE people were injured at Limassol port yesterday as tensions escalated on the third day of a crippling truck drivers’ strike.
Strikers Socrates Ioannou and Evripides Evripidou and Phileleftheros photo journalist Andreas Lazarou were all injured after a motorist stormed the port gates with his new car.
Ioannou had tried to block the driver from leaving the port by standing in front of the vehicle, but the angry motorist drove on regardless, throwing Ioannou onto the car bonnet. The motorist drove off at high speed for a good kilometre with Ioannou clinging to the bonnet, but not before injuring Lazarou and Evripidou in the process. Just after the Franklin Roosevelt and Omonia Avenue crossroads Ioannou was thrown from the car, injuring his leg.
Police chased after the motorist who had failed to stop to see if the striker had been harmed. He was arrested soon after and charged with traffic offences.
All three injured men were taken to Limassol general hospital where they were treated and released.
Speaking to reporters, Limassol harbour master Christos Matsis said the truckers had initially allowed some shipments to leave the port, including cheese, yoghurt, pharmaceuticals, animal feed and some cars.
“It appears this driver wasn’t allowed through and when he was told to stop, he didn’t… I can’t refuse to let someone take their car. If someone comes and pays, I’m not the one striking so they can take delivery of their vehicle. Once they get to exit and run into problems, it’s up to that person and the police to deal with it,” Matsis said.
The incident, criticised by all who’d witnessed it, including port authorities and truck drivers, angered strikers who reacted by blocking off all port entrances.
Truck drivers’ association president Loucas Demetriou said the incident had convinced strikers to put an end to peaceful measures and that if the competent authorities wanted to avoid more unpleasantness they would have to give in to their demands.
“What are we supposed to do? Just stand around and get run over by cars,” he said.
But the government repeated that it would not be subjected to blackmail and called the truckers to a sit down.
House Transport Committee chairman Zacharias Koulias said problems were not solved by punishing citizens, causing millions of pounds worth of damage, and destroying other professions but were only solved through dialogue.
“Our position is that the measures should be stopped immediately because it is causing great damage and destroying people,” he said.
Koulias called the truckers to Parliament where he said their demands would be considered and efforts made to address them.
“Nothing is achieved through these kinds of destructive measures to the country’s economy. This sort of thing has a chain reaction,” he said.
Meanwhile in the Larnaca district, truckers assembled at the town’s main port, the Vassiliko port and Xylofagou. At one point, a strike buster attempted to take load of an iron shipment enraging his colleagues, who closed off the Larnaca port’s entrance. The trucker finally gave up and joined ranks with the other strikers, while ships continued to wait off shore unable to offload their cargo.
Citrus fruit producers and animal farmers appealed to the truckers to put an end to the strike before it destroyed their livelihood.
Citrus producers said they were being held hostage to a dispute that had nothing to do with them, while animal farmers warned that their animals would die or have to be slaughtered if animal feed was not distributed to their farms immediately.
The truckers yesterday agreed to continue the strike for a further 48 hours.
Professional class A and D licence truck drivers decided to strike after their demand to have all C class licences withdrawn was not met. Truckers claim that the Licensing Authority continues to issue class C licences to private companies to serve their businesses, something not in the truck drivers’ interest.
By law, class C licenses should only be issued to specially designated vehicles in special cases, but according to the truckers anyone with a truck is being issued one.
