Cyprus-Forum.com

[Tim Drayton]

A first hand account of an incident I have just witnessed:

Monday, 13 January
When I arrived at the Old Hospital bus terminus in Limassol at about 10.55, I noticed a lot of high school students milling around, presumably refusing to attend their classes at the high school opposite in protest at the fares being imposed on school buses, which were previously free. At around 11.15 I noticed a group of about 70-80 students were assembling at the vehicular entrance to the bus station and, moving the two litter bins at the station into this entrance, set fire to them. At about 11.20 a bus on the number 14 route began to enter the station and the students made a half-hearted attempt to block it. An older person, presumably an employee of the Limassol urban bus company (EMEL), rapidly kicked one of the burning litter bins to one side, and the driver was able to gradually edge his bus in through the crowd of students. I noticed that all the buses arriving after this number 14 did not attempt to enter the bus station, but started setting down and picking up passengers in the main road outside, presumably at the instructions of one the bus company officials there. The driver of the number 14 called some officials to inspect his vehicle, complaining that stones had been thrown at it, but this bus was able to depart a few minutes later than its scheduled time. By the time I left at 11.30, the crowd of students at the entrance had grown to about 100, and they had brought in a metal barrier to block the entrance, on which they had draped a banner. Despite this being a stone's throw away from Limassol's central police station, there was no sign of any police presence or intervention by the time that I left.