Cyprus Mail 12 January 2022 - by Jonathan Shkurko
Eleven people arrested in relation to a brawl in Chlorakas last week were charged and released conditionally. They will appear at Paphos district court for a hearing on February 24, police said on Wednesday.
Most were facing charges of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour, rioting and disturbing the peace, while three of them were also being charged with breaking and entering as well as assault.
The suspects’ lawyers asked Paphos district court for time to study the charge sheet, which contains a total of 67 charges and 30 prosecution witnesses.
The court decided €15,000 bail for each suspect who will also be placed on the government’s ‘stop list’ prohibiting them from leaving the Republic or crossing to the north. The suspects will also have to appear at Paphos central police station once a week.
Four more aged 19, 31, 31 and 25 were arrested on Wednesday during a sweep by various law enforcement agencies at an apartment complex in the village and will have to appear in court at a date yet to be decided. They are all suspected of taking part in the brawls.
The complex hosts about 600 people, including asylum seekers, Chlorakas community leader Nicolas Liasides said after the incident while calling on the state to close it down.
The arrests came after police arrested a 21-year-old man on Tuesday and 15 more last week.
The brawls, which erupted on January 3 and 4, involved more than 100 third country nationals, mostly Syrians, and resulted in injuries and property damages.
During Tuesday’s operation – the third in a week – which lasted from 5pm to midnight, police also searched 50 vehicles and 137 individuals, with 15 fined for traffic violations and two for not wearing a face mask.
Last week, Chlorakas residents staged a protest complaining of “ghettoisation” of the area, as explained by community leader Nicos Liasides, who described the situation in the village as “very problematic” for the past three years saying that residents feel insecure.
“Unfortunately the situation has reached the point of no return,” he said. “Ghettoisation must be avoided.”
Meanwhile, migrants’ support NGO Kisa on Wednesday condemned the protest, saying it involved “hate speech” and saw people terrorising the Syrian refugees and asylum seekers in Chlorakas.
“The event, the main slogan of which was ‘Put Cypriots First, No More Ghettos, No More Fake Refugees’, was attended by some 150 people, in their majority extreme right fans of the local branch of the criminal organisation Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn),” the NGO said in a statement.
“The march was headed by the leader of the local council and featured a strong presence of Elam officials.
“The participants, with the encouragement and active participation of the leader of the local council shouted racist and abusive slogans at the block’s residents, such as ‘you are terrorists, return to your homes, no more fake refugees, out of Chlorakas, illegal migrants out of Chlorakas.’”
Kisa has filed a report to the attorney-general and the chief of the police against the leader of the local council for hate speech and inciting attacks and violence, as well as against members of the police who were present for complicity and neglect of duty.
