STRIKE IN CYPRUS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28223, 11 March 1957, Page 9

STRIKE IN CYPRUS

Shops, Streets Deserted (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) NICOSIA, March 9. Cypriot Greeks in the main towns of Cyprus today began a one-day strike on the first anniversary of the deportation of their church leader, Archbishop Makarios, and three other church dignitaries to the Seychelle Islands. In Nicosia, shops and private offices were shut and the streets deserted as the strike—which was ordered yesterday by Peka, the political branch of the Eoka terrorist organisation—has affected transport. In Limassol, the island’s second largest town, the standstill was reported to be almost complete. Shops, banks and businesses were shut and several thousand workers employed at a service construction works nearby stayed out. Only food shops were open in the town. British Army patrols toured the silent streets, which were without pedestrian traffic for an hour this morning. A few Greek flags appeared on some squares together with a few portraits of Archbishop Makarios. In the north Cyprus towns of Karavas and Lapithos, schools were shut and labourers were on strike. Schools Empty The strike was being partly observed at Larnaca, South Cyprus. Elementary school-children stayed at home.

Yesterday, masked youths entered these schools and flung bunches of leaflets among the pupils warning them there was a strike today and telling them to stay home.