Protesters decry Cyprus crossing point closures over virus

Dozens of people are pushing aside police barriers in Cyprus to protest the closing of a crossing point in the medieval core of the ethnically divided island nation’s capital.

Protesters chant and raise placards opposing the closure of the Nicosia crossing point, which the Cypriot government says it ordered to help prevent the possible spread of the new coronavirus.

The government has shut four of nine such crossings along the 180-kilometer (120-mile) length of the United Nations-controlled buffer zone that separates a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north from an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south.

There have been no confirmed cases of the coronavirus found so far on either side of the divide.

Protesters say the closings would do nothing to prevent the virus’ spread and ascribed political motives to the move.

But Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades says “there was no choice” other than to temporarily shut some of the crossing points to better enable police and medical staff to screen for possible carriers of the virus crossing either northward or southward.

“Those who think that they’re causing a political problem for the government aren’t justified,” Anastasiades tells reporters. “The government has an obligation to take steps safeguarding the public’s health.”

— AP