Students and organised groups gathered on Friday to protest the unilateral declaration of northern Cyprus as a separate republic.

The unilateral declaration of independence was made on November 15, 1983.

Events and parades were held at crossing points, UN outposts and city centres by student associations Psem and Efen, as well as schoolchildren in villages.

Akel will be hosting an event at 7pm at the Orpheas crossing point in Nicosia. Participants will gather at Famagusta Gate at 6.15pm and march to the crossing point.

The police are present at the events to maintain order and facilitate access. Participants have been urged to follow police instructions.

In Nicosia, hundreds of students gathered at 10.30am in Kaimakli and, holding banners and waving flags, marched to the Mia Mila crossing point.

Along the way, the students were chanting slogans in favour of as solution and the reunification of the country.

Speaking at the event, Psem vice-president Despina Kyprianou said the international community and UN Security Council have condemned Turkey’s partitionist UDI action.

Referring to the history of the Cyprus problem, Kyprianou said “we will not allow imperialism and nationalism to finish off their crime against Cyprus”.

She spoke of developments worldwide in which Cyprus’ younger generation is called upon to do its duty and strive for liberation and reunification.

Referring to the election of Tufan Erhurman to the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community, Michail said this development gave hope that negotiations would finally resume for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

“We salute the thousands of progressive Turkish Cypriots who over the past years protested Turkey’s effort to interfere in their domestic issues and the island in general, at the same time deploring Turkey’s actions in the fenced-off city of Famagusta,” he said.

In Limassol, two marches were organised by students to mark the anniversaries of the UDI in Cyprus and the Polytechnic in Greece.

Psem president Achilleas Georgiou assured the participants that the organisation would continue its struggle for the reunification of Cyprus, adding that the Greek Cypriot side must support the negotiating process.

“The long period of impasse and negotiating void had its side-effects. In order to create a new faits accompli, Turkey exploited its exoneration by the international community,” he said.

Georgiou also expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and support to their struggle for “survival, freedom and independence”.

In Larnaca, students gathered along the Finikoudes beachfront at 1030am and marched to the Mediaeval fort to participate in the event, holding Greek flags and chanting for a solution.

Psem representative Achilleas Georgiou referred to the history of the Cyprus problem and the UDI nine years after the 1974 Turkish invasion.

The younger generation, he said, is being called upon to “do our duty to our country and our people”.

“We declare that we will struggle until the final justification of Cyprus, until liberation and reunification,” he said.

In Paphos, students gathered at the Makarios III and resistance monument to deplore the UDI and also organised an event to honour the November 17, 1973, uprising against the junta in Greece, during which the military dictatorship sent a tank into the polytechnic leading to the death of scores of people.

During the joint event, the students held up placards calling for peace and against fascism.

The event began at 10am with the gathering of participants at the Stelios Kyriakides stadium, followed by a march to the monument.

A Psem speech was read out by Paphos representative Ephraim Michail, who sent the message that Psem will continue the struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem, based on international law and UN resolutions.

“We are fighting for liberation from occupation and the reunification of the land and people, for a bizonal, bicommunal federation solution with political equality, as provided for in UN resolutions,” Michail said.

He also called for the respect of human rights of all Cypriots and the demilitarisation of the island, so that all Cypriots could live together in peace.

“Cyprus does not need armies, barbed wire and foreign guardians to supervise us,” he said, adding that Psem did not want Nato to be involved in the Cyprus problem in any way.

He extended a message of friendship and peaceful coexistence to the Turkish Cypriots and said that the students, as the voice of the future, should stand against those promoting division.

Referring to the Polytechnic events in Greece, Michail said it constituted the culmination of the struggle against dictatorship, with the students on the front line.

The uprising, he added, managed to rally around it the vast majority of the people of Greece, as the demands of the students were for the people as a whole.

Michail said the uprising played a decisive role in ridding the country of dictatorship.

“Unfortunately, before the junta collapsed, it managed to fulfil its devastating and traitorous plans drafted at Nato headquarters and with the help of Eoka B in Cyprus it carried out the fascist coup d’ état of July 15, 1974,” which ultimately led to the Turkish invasion, Michail said.

The Polytechnic, he stressed, cannot remain a historical memory.