Activists protested on Thursday against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Cyprus, gathering at Larnaca Airport at the time of his arrival.
“While the Israeli military kills tens of thousands of civilians, women, children and elderly in Palestine and Lebanon, Israel’s President cannot be welcome in Cyprus,” the Cyprus Peace Council said in a statement.
Demonstrators plan additional protests outside the presidential palace in Nicosia later today, under heightened security measures implemented across both cities.
The council described Herzog’s visit as “a huge provocation” to Cypriots, who face their own struggle against occupation, and to people fighting for peace and justice worldwide. The group called for an end to what they termed “genocide against Palestinian people and military operations by the Israeli state.”
Israel has killed at least 45,000 Palestinians, with 102,000 wounded, since the October 7 attack by Hamas. It has also killed around 3,000 in Lebanon and Syria, while around 3 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the war. The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
Read more:
