Filenews 3 July 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Sunday's incident in which a group of Muslims living in Paphos demonstrated in the tourist area with Koran in their hands and slogans for Allah, is a sign of extreme behaviour and religious fanaticism that should worry the Cypriot state.
This was emphasized by the Mayor of the city, speaking at a press conference on the issue that arose. Phedon Phedonos stressed that the reactions to what happened on Sunday on the Pafos coastal front have nothing to do with the cultivation of intolerance and religious conflicts, but with the marked alteration already recorded in Pafos in democratic practices and institutions due to the overconcentration of many more migrants than it could integrate and manage.
Already, in many schools in our city, Greek Cypriots are a minority, he said, while in some the majority of students do not even speak the Greek language. The consequences of these phenomena will be great if they are not managed today and not tomorrow, he pointed out.
Phedon Phedonos also argued that the Ministry of Education and the state in general have not been interested in any meaningful management of the problem for years. The result of this attitude, he said, is the existence of the very serious problems observed today in the city and district of Pafos. He warned that very soon the problems will be irreversible.
The Mayor of Pafos also remarked that we should not only look at the case of one or a few children with immigrant CVs when they are first and distinguished in our schools, for which they are commendable, but also ask ourselves what happens to the many other foreign children who remain on the spectrum of illiteracy and who are heading towards religious fanaticism.
Some remain silent in front of all this, Mr. Phedonos concluded, since they are comfortable because they employ these people on terms favourable to them.
