Police on Thursday announced that between 4pm and 9pm, there will be short-term road closures in Larnaca and Nicosia, ahead of and during the arrival of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the island for an unplanned visit.

Intermittent road closures lasting a few minutes can be expected in Larnaca district, on the Larnaca – Nicosia highway, and in Nicosia district.

The public is asked to follow the instructions of the police officers on duty and updates can be seen on the police website here.

President Nikos Christodoulides will meet Herzog during his extraordinary visit, amidst the strict security measures and planned protest events.

The meeting is scheduled for 6pm at the Presidential Palace.

Herzog’s visit is related to Wednesday’s intergovernmental Cyprus-Egypt and trilateral Cyprus, Greece, Egypt talks in Cairo and developments in the region, and in particular in Syria, according to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).

The change in US leadership had also occasioned the gathering of regional statesmen, according to CNA.

Events to protest Herzog’s presence in Cyprus amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israel’s aggression in Lebanon have been planned by the Pancyprian Peace Council. The protest is to start at 4pm at the Larnaca airport roundabout and at 4.30pm a protest will take place the entrance to the Presidential Palace.

Opposition party Akel had also strongly condemned Herzog’s visit on Wednesday, stating that in the midst the “mass barbarism in Palestine and all of the middle east [by Israel] [it] is a brutal provocation.”

“Mr. Christodoulides’ guest is the head of the war machine which is at this moment exterminating the Palestinian people, invading neighbouring states, attacking the UN, and trampling on every sense of justice and morality,” Akel added.

Christodoulides is scheduled to meet Israel’s president upon returning from Athens, where he will attend the funeral of former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis at noon.