Protest against US and Israeli policies

GREEK and Turkish Cypriots joined forces yesterday in a demonstration against American and Israeli policies in the Middle East.

Around 150 people, including Palestinian supporters, marched from Nicosia’s Eleftheria Square to the US embassy and from there to the Israeli embassy where scores of police in riot gear had been deployed. There were no incidents.

The demonstrators carried ‘Wanted’ posters in English, Greek and Turkish portraying US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as ‘war criminals’.

Some proetsters carried Palestinian flags and others held up photographs of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

They also chanted ‘Freedom for Palestinians’, ‘End the occupation of Iraq’ and ‘Yankees go home’.

The bicommual initiative was part of a series of rallies worldwide yesterday to protest against the situation in Iraq and in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The situation in Iraq is turning into a new Vietnam for the US and British occupation forces,” a statement by the protesters said. “We see a new intifada emerging in the streets of Iraq, sinking the hawks of war in a quagmire.”

The statement also accused Greece, Turkey and Cyprus of being accomplices “in the crimes of Bush and Blair” by providing direct and indirect facilities, against the wishes of the people.

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.