Larnaca municipal council on Friday announced a three-hour peaceful protest over its disagreement with what it called the state’s interference in the finances of local governments.

“Instead of the state essentially supporting local government, as it should, especially through adequate and fair state funding, it is attempting to transfer the financial burden to the municipalities themselves and, ultimately, to the public,” the council said.

“With its attitude, actions, positions and omissions, the central state calls on the municipalities to increase fees and charges to the citizens, something that the municipalities do not want, do not consider fair and do not accept as a correct solution. Citizens should not become the final recipients of insufficient state support for local government.”

The council said it needed to take a stand against this policy and to defend the “principle of local government” and to protect the interests of the public.

The three-hour protest will take place on Monday from 9am to 12pm outside the Town Hall in Larnaca.

The entire municipal council will attend and it invites all employees to join them. It clarified that attendance was optional and there would be no adverse consequences for those who did not join the protest.

The municipality said it would ensure, “as far as possible, the smooth operation of its services during the protest”.

The Larnaca protest is part of a wider call by the Union of Cyprus Municipalities for each district to do the same.

The union has said that without proper state financial support, municipalities will struggle to survive. It challenges claims by the government that funding for municipalities would double given that state revenue increased by 132 per cent from 2010 to 2024, but funding for municipalities would only be hiked by 42 per cent in 2026.