Roundup: Cypriot village residents trap British soldiers in 9-hour standoff

Residents of a village within the boundaries of a British military Base trapped scores of British soldiers and restricted their movements for several hours on Thursday, stopping them from cutting down acacia trees inside a target range.

Between 250 and 300 soldiers were sent to the area in several tracks on Wednesday night with the aim of cutting down acacia and eucalyptus trees saying they would thin the forest in clear the view and to facilitate military drills.

Several months back, the bases' authorities had tried to cut down the trees with the aim of preventing the laying of lime sticks and nets to trap songbirds, known as ambelopoulia, a practice which is illegal under European Union rules.

Residents of Xylopagou village, which is within the boundaries of the Dekelia British Sovereign Base rang the church bell to alert the whole of the village to the arrival of the British soldiers.

About 800 of them gathered in the target range on the top of a cliff hundreds of meters above the sea, early morning on Thursday, forcing the soldiers to retreat to their trucks and isolating them in an inaccessible area.

The villagers used cars to block access roads to the area. The soldiers, using chainsaws, had already cut about 60 eucalyptus trees which are used to support or conceal mist nets on which birds are caught.

Base spokesman Kristian Gray said that the operation was a military exercise to clear vegetation that was obstructing the view during drills. However, he admitted that another aim was to clear the area of trees that attract the birds.

"We began clearing the Pyla firing ranges for safety reasons. It's our main range for training and the view of the arc of fire was obstructed, and this creates dangers when the soldiers use live ammunition," he said.

He also said that the soldiers were neither trapped nor restricted and could leave if they wanted to but they chose to stay within their trucks. He described the action of the villagers as unacceptable.

Xylophaghou community leader Anastasios Anglogallos dismissed the claim that the forest was used for trapping birds and offered to work with the administration of the base for fighting what he described as the illegal action of bird trapping.

Anglogallos said that he negotiated with the chief officer of the political administration of the British bases, agreeing that the issue of clearing the range be discussed after a new village authority will have been elected in about three months' time.

He said the residents were resisting the destruction of the forest which they use for outings and picnics. He said the Forestry Department will be at hand during the new consultations to advice on the kind of trees to be planted to replace the acacia forest in the target range.

The standoff lasted about nine hours, during which local residents provided water and food for the weary soldiers. Enditem