Cyprus demonstration denounces British base used against Yemen

Marchers denounced Britain’s role

Over 1,000 people demonstrated outside the British RAF base of Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday. This was the base used to launch British attacks on Yemen a few days earlier.

There was a large cohort of young people and many Palestinians now living in Cyprus.

The base at Akrotiri is used to supply Israel with weapons and bombs that are used to kill and destroy Palestinian lives in Gaza.

The Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides, said that the British authorities did not inform him or ask for his permission for the Yemen bombing. But he refused to condemn these flights.

The demonstration was called by the Cyprus Peace Council and was the first outside Akrotiri. Previous demonstrations were held in the main towns.

Slogans demanded the removal of the British bases from Cyprus altogether, a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the genocide.

Marchers accused the British, US and Cypriot governments as complicit in the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people.

Speakers included Shadi, a young Palestinian man now living in Cyprus who described how Israel had killed almost all his family in southern Gaza.

They moved from the north of Gaza hoping to find safety and ended living in a house with 72 people in total, trying to cope as best as they could.

Shadi got a call on 19 December from his brother who told him Israel had bombed the house and nearly everyone there died, including his parents. Only two of his brothers survived.

While peacefully standing outside the base for the rally, a drone from inside the base was spying on us—no doubt filming and taking photos.