Hundreds are expected to gather in Nicosia on April 7, to mark six months since the ongoing Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Organisers are calling the assault a “genocidal crime” and demanding an end to the blockade on the territory.
The protest, co-organised by a coalition of left-wing groups and social movements will highlight the plight of Palestinians facing food and medical shortages.
Starting at 4 p.m. at Eleftheria Square, the demonstration comes amid criticism of the Cypriot government’s support for the “Amalthea programme,” an aid initiative shunned by the organisers as a public relations exercise that fails to address the core issue of the land blockade.
“Since the seventh of October 2023 the government of the Republic of Cyprus, as a close ally of Israel, has been complicit in its war crimes in Gaza. Recently, the government together with other countries have launched the Amalthea programme (a “humanitarian” corridor that will transport minor aid through sea) with Israel as the distributor.
“At the same time, aid entering through land is being actively blocked by the occupation army. Τhus Amalthea is used as a media stunt and cover-up for using the starvation of the population in Gaza as a weapon of war,” the organisers said.
Demands from the protestors include an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the complete lifting of the blockade on Gaza, an end to the perceived complicity of the Cypriot government, the dismantling of the Israeli occupation and freedom for Palestine.
Organised by:
- Afoa
- Aeriko
- Anonim Genclik
- Bağımsızlık Yolu
- DIEM25
- Far Right Watch CY
- Film Workers for Palestine
- Initiative against Fascist Threat
- Hade
- ΚISA
- Kores Ksapolites
- NEDA
- Queer Collective CY
- Sispirosi Ataktwn
- Sol Hareket
- Spirithkia
- United for Palestine – Cyprus
(Picture by Antonia Maria Nicolaides)
