Cyprus sees protest against UK airbase

NICOSIA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of demonstrators protested against the use of a British airbase in Cyprus for military activities related to the Gaza conflict.

The Cyprus Peace Council, the organizer of the event, said that around 500 people marched to the gate of the Akrotiri airbase on the fringes of the southern port city of Limassol.

During the demonstration, the organization repeated its appeal for an immediate closure of the British airbases in Cyprus, saying they have been posing a constant danger to the security of the island country and its people.

The demonstrators held banners calling against the involvement of the base in the Gaza conflict. They handed a written message to a British officer at the gate of the base, saying that the Cypriot people do not want their country "to be involved in any way in the bloody massacre taking place in the Gaza Strip," according to local media.

It is reported that the Akrotiri airbase was used to transfer military equipment to Israel, and four Royal Airforce Typhoon planes took off from the base overnight on Friday to carry out bomb attacks on the Houthi militia in Yemen, which claimed that they support Hamas.

"We once again denounce the use and involvement of the British bases in Cyprus in the murderous airstrikes being launched against the people of the region," the council was quoted by English-language daily newspaper Cyprus Mail as saying.

The Akrotiri airbase, with an area of almost 254 square kilometers, is one of the two military bases that the United Kingdom retained as "British sovereign areas" when it granted independence to Cyprus in 1960 after 100 years of colonial rule. ■