Resistance Grows to Cyprus Bank Deposit Seizures

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Leaders in Cyprus and Brussels scrambled Monday to contain the fallout from an unprecedented effort to force ordinary bank depositors in this crisis-hit nation to pay for part of an international bailout, as stock markets faltered on concerns about the wider implications for Europe's long-running debt crisis.

President Nicos Anastasiades was trying to compel policy makers in Brussels to soften demands for a tax to be assessed on Cypriot bank deposits, saying European Union leaders used "blackmail" to get him to agree to those conditions early Saturday in order to receive a bailout package worth 10 billion euros, or $13 billion.

Cyprus, whose banking system is verging on collapse, is now the fifth nation in the 17-member euro union to seek financial assistance since the crisis broke out three years ago.

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