A group of taxi drivers blocked the Ayios Dhometios crossing point with their cars for several hours on Saturday, to protest police preventing them from filling their tanks with cheap petrol from the north, police told the Cyprus Mail.

Long lines of cars were seen at the crossing after around 30 taxis gathered there at 12.30pm, citing police discrimination against them when trying to cross to the non-government-controlled areas to fill their cars with cheap petrol.

According to an eyewitness, the taxis had blocked the crossing point with police redirecting cars waiting to cross.

“Some people decided to ditch their cars and cross on foot,” she said.

The protest lasted about three hours, before the crossing point started operating normally again around 3.30pm.

The only other crossing point for cars in the Nicosia area is in Astromeritis.

The impromptu protest took place after a taxi driver attempted to cross the north earlier on Saturday and the Greek Cypriot officer asked to check the car’s tank to make sure he did not attempt to fill it with petrol.