MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Hundreds of people gathered on Monday in front of the presidential palace in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, to protest the government’s recent bailout deal with the European Union, the Ethnos newspaper reported.
Protesters disemboweled several bags full of fleece in front of the presidential palace saying that the government clips people like sheep. They have also tried to smash doors to the presidential palace.
Before marching to the presidential palace, protesters stopped at the German Embassy, where they tore the German flag off the building and threw it on the road.
Police forces were put on alert since last Saturday and police spokesman earlier pledged to provide security at the presidential palace and at the building of the parliament in case of mass protests.
The European Union and the IMF agreed on Saturday to bail out Cyprus’ debt-laden economy and grant the island nation a loan worth 10 billion euros ($13 billion) in return for the government’s obligation to tax all deposits kept at Cypriot banks.
Under the terms of the bailout deal, Cyprus will have to impose a levy of 6.75 percent on deposits of less than 100,000 euros and 9.9 percent on deposits with greater amounts. Cypriots reacted with shock and rushed to cash machines to withdraw their savings, but many machines refused to pay out.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said he had to choose between the “catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy and the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis.”
