Public sector workers in Cyprus walked off the job on Thursday in protest at austerity measures taken by the cash-strapped government and approved by parliament in an effort to arrest a runaway deficit.
Thousands of workers observed the strike, which left emergency services like hospitals with skeleton staff and threatened to disrupt local elections on Dec. 18.
Airlines had to reschedule flights because of a separate strike by air traffic controllers, disrupting holidaymakers' plans.
The strike, called unexpectedly on Wednesday just before parliament approved a new economic austerity package, is an awkward challenge for the island's communist-led government, rooted in labour activism. Industrial action on such a scale in Cyprus is rare.
Under close scrutiny from Brussels, parliament was due later in the day to approve the 2012 budget which seeks to slash the budget deficit to 2.4 percent of GDP from a projected 6.0 percent this year.
Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said he regretted the civil servants' decision to strike.
"I am saddened. Today I was waiting for approval of the budget to send a formal message to Brussels that we are implementing what was promised, and I had wanted to underline the political and labour consensus," he told state radio.
Cyprus's 17 billion euro economy has suffered from recession, fiscal slippage and exposure of its banking sector to Greece. It has been unable to access international capital markets since May, and recently announced it would obtain a 2.5 billion euro loan from Russia to help refinance debt maturing next year.
Strike action could disrupt local elections on Dec. 18 if civil servants refuse to turn up for work, a prospect left open by their union.
The public sector union Pasydy has been angered at a two year freeze on pay and inflation-linked benefits. The government and political parties have denied speculation that additional legislative action was imminent which would impact pensions.
Cyprus's broad public sector employs about 72,000 people, including semi-government corporations which did not join Thursday's strike. According to the IMF, Cyprus has the highest public sector payroll in the euro zone as a proportion of output, costing 15.4 percent of GDP.
With clerical staff on strike, parliament approved the austerity package on Wednesday in a plenary session in which lawmakers had to shout because microphones had been switched off. Thursday's budget debate was also expected to take place without staff.
