Pro-Palestinian campaigners protested at the gates of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday, accusing Britain of offering tacit support to Israel’s ongoing operations in Gaza and elsewhere.
Chanting “Out with the bases of death” a couple of hundred people holding Palestinian and Cypriot flags peacefully protested outside the locked gates of the facility, Britain’s largest in the Middle East.
Britain last week sent additional troops to Cyprus to be in position to assist any potential evacuation of nationals trapped in Lebanon, which is reeling from a barrage of Israeli air strikes which culminated in the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday evening.
In response to the protests, a British bases spokesperson said: “No RAF flights have transported lethal cargo to the Israeli Defence Forces.”
“In addition, it is standard practice for the UK Ministry of Defence to routinely authorise requests for (a) limited number of allies and partners to access the UK’s air bases. Such activity must be in line with UK policy for evacuation and humanitarian purposes only.”
