Turkish Cypriots on Monday embarked on a general strike over the north’s ruling coalition’s plans regarding the cost-of-living allowance, with thousands of people marching from various points in Nicosia to the Turkish Cypriot legislature building in Ayios Dhometios.

The three starting points were located east, north, and west of the legislature building, with demonstrators converging on it.

When reaching the legislature building, they were met by a line of riot police at the building’s security gate, around 200 metres in front of its front door.

However, they overpowered the police and made it as far as the front door, before the ruling coalition agreed to negotiate with trade union leaders over the future of the north’s cost-of-living allowance.

Union leaders then entered the building, but those outside remained, with the fire brigade then being called in to try and disperse demonstrators.

A fire engine drove onto the patio immediately in front of the building and firefighters attempted to spray the protesters with water, but the protesters then grabbed the hose, and a tug of war ensued.

Some protesters were doused in water as a result, but the fire brigade appeared to come off worse, with the fire engine’s windscreen being smashed in the melee.

On Monday afternoon, ‘MPs’ belonging to opposition CTP party exited the building to join demonstrators, with the party’s leader Sila Usar Incirli deploring the attempts to disperse protesters with water, and the deployment of tear gas on the part of the police.

“These people want their voices heard. Some people were injured as a result of the police’s intervention. We all understand that it is impossible with this government. They cannot govern this country. They must resign immediately,” she said.

Fellow opposition party TDP leader Zeki Celer, meanwhile, accused the ruling coalition of “experiencing political hallucinations” and of being “afflicted with an intoxication of power”.

“They have become so blind that they have sunk to the point of spraying tear gas into the eyes of their own people and using fire engines to spray water on them … Do not forget the tear gas you inhaled today. Do not forget the water sprayed upon you today. Do not forget,” he said.

Earlier, electricity workers’ trade union El-Sen leader Ahmet Tugcu had reported that Kib-Tek, the north’s electricity authority, had, in light of the strike, sent a private contractor to fix an electrical fault between Lefkoniko and the nearby village of Prastio, and that the contractor had died after being electrocuted.

Kib-Tek denied that it had sent the contractor, saying that the worker had been carrying out “private construction work” when he died and had no relation with the authority.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said of the events that he is “trying to establish a dialogue” with the ruling coalition, and that “the process is being monitored”.

The strike and the march come after ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova had earlier in the month announced that while public sector workers would be paid a cost-of-living allowance in April, they will then receive no further such payments until next year.

Trade unions had as such warned that if those plans were passed by the ‘parliamentary’ finance committee, they would go on strike, with 62 trade unions and other civil society organisations eventually joining the strike.

On Monday morning, Cyprus Turkish teachers’ trade union (Ktos) secretary-general Burak Mavish said during an appearance on Kibris Postasi TV that he and other union leaders had requested to meet Berova on Sunday but received no response, and thus decided to call the general strike.

He was also asked to comment on the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce (Ktto)’s opinion that “strikes should not be held in the education and health sectors”, and described the statement as “manipulative”.

Additionally, he said that Ktto chairman Turgay Deniz “pays less tax than many civil servants and teachers”.