FOOD RIOTS IN NICOSIA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28089, 3 October 1956, Page 13

FOOD RIOTS IN NICOSIA

Effects Of Strict Curfew

(Rec. 8 p.m.) NICOSIA, October 1. Thousands of Cypriot women fought minor battles for food within the walled city of Nicosia today when the strict house curfew was lifted at noon for one hour. With baskets, cans and canvas shopping bags they ran towards the municipal market—only to find that police and troops with bayonets fixed barred the way.

Nobody was allowed to cross the formidable barrier of barbed wire dividing the Greek and Turkish sectors of Nicosia.

Although hungry Greek women and children could almost see food in plenty stacked in the market across the wire, they were swept back by the troops.

A few insistent youths were forced to stand against a wall, and were searched, while hundreds watched in the blistering sun. One policeman told the crowds that food would be available at the women’s market within the Greek sector but when scores of people rushed there they found none. Old men shook their fists and women shrieked in desperation until a food van appeared bringing one basket of lemons and one basket of marrows. They were snatched away within minutes.

As the minutes dragged by and no food appeared, people in the streets shouted that they would defy the curfew and continue searching for food for their families. The situation was so tense that the curfew-lifting period had to be extended by one hour to allow more food to come into the city. British troops enforcing the curfew in the capital’s Greek quarters earlier this morning, threatened to stone open windows.

One soldier shouted to a Cypriot who was slow in closing his shutters: “Close it or I’ll put a bullet through it”