Filenews 7 May 2022 - by Vassos Vassiliou
A total of 389 incidents of racist content have been recorded in the period 2005-2020, as mentioned in a question by MP Alexandra Attalidou, who cites data transmitted to her by the Police. Mrs. Attalidou mentions that "the only mechanism for recording racist incidents in Cyprus is that of the Police" and adds that the data that has been forwarded to her began in 2005, when the process of recording them in Cyprus started.
"The oxymoron is recorded", observes Mrs. Attalidou, that the vast majority of those complaining of racist attacks are Greek Cypriots, with 111 complaints. "Despite the obvious problems in the mechanism for registering complaints of racist rhetoric, over the years it seems that no real effort has been made to address its phenomenon, nor the distortion of majority complaints from the indigenous population," she adds.
She explains that she received "a collective complaint about a thoroughly painted wall with extreme racist messages which is in public view at a distance of 500 meters from the Astromeritis barricade, from where hundreds of citizens pass daily, including members of the local Authority, but also members of the Police, who are there to staff the barricade, and they were not troubled by those messages."
Furthermore, Mrs. Attalidou observes that the performance of Cyprus in judicial convictions for racist crimes is recorded in many international reports as extremely low, since there seem to be zero judicial decisions on the basis of the European Union Directive on racial discrimination and only a court decision on the basis of the EU framework decision on racism and xenophobia.
The competent minister is asked to answer whether she is aware of the point in question at the Astromeritis barricade, whether she has proceeded to an investigation of the criminal offence with the aim of bringing the perpetrators to justice and, if not, how she justifies the inaction of the members of the Police passing through this point. It also asks for an answer as to whether any prosecution of juvenile suspects in the recent attacks on food distributors will be carried out, as the Legislature has already introduced provisions according to which minors over the age of 14 may be held criminally liable.
Finally, she indicates that in the incidents with the food distributors, the Commissioner for Administration identified racist motives, but "the Police maintain that the attacks in question are not related to any disputes concerning religion or any other form of racism".
