Day one of the extraordinary bank closure. Rumours abound. Some people seem able to access money from the ATMs and others not, probably in accordance with whether individual bank branches still have cash. Although Maggi tries moving money from one account to another online and is unavailable to do so, confirming statements that electronic transfers have been stopped. The Troika (EU, IMF, and European Central Bank) have insisted that there is no option other than Cyprus raising 5.8 billion euros itself, an argument that the government seems to have bought. But by the time the vote takes place in the evening it is 36 opposed with 19 abstentions (this latter the governing party). So now the desperate search for a plan B, with a fair bit of hysterical euphoria in the streets - they told us we had to take a measure that no one else has been forced to - and we refused.
JAWORSKI TRAVELS