Protests as banks remain closed

Thousands of students and bank workers protested in Nicosia yesterday as banks stayed shut to stop a run on deposits after the island agreed a painful bailout to avert bankruptcy.

The chairman of Cyprus’s biggest commercial bank offered to resign after a special administrator was appointed over his head to run the lender, which is being restructured as part of the package to bail out the oversized financial sector.

Cyprus’s banks were ordered to remain closed until tomorrow, and even then will impose capital controls to prevent depositors from stripping out all their funds.