Filenews 7 October 2023
The Chief of Police, Stelios Papatheodorou, admitted negligence on the part of the Police during the debate in the House Standing Committee on Legal Affairs in relation to the handling of the recent events that took place in Chloraka and Limassol, with the Members of the Committee stating that they were not satisfied with the answers they received, in a meeting with tension and confrontations between MPs. on fascism and violence.
"Unfortunately, we did not manage to prevent six injuries and material damage that took place after the attempt to stop the protesters, so that they did not advance towards Molos and scattered on the adjacent streets," the Chief of Police said, speaking about the events in Limassol, noting that "it is a fact that we could have intervened earlier, when the masked men were walking on Molos".
He noted that "it is a fact that we could have intervened earlier, when the masked men were walking on Molos." He said that "we could have had more arrests if we acted faster", admitting that "it is a fact that the situation puts us in an unfavourable position as police".
He added that a total of 48 arrests have been made so far in connection with the incidents.
The Chief also said that the Police are preparing for the event that had been announced outside the Presidential Palace for the afternoon, despite the announcements of its cancellation.
Regarding the fact report that the Government Spokesman said he expects the President to receive today, the Chief of Police said that "we have the facts, if we are asked we will give them".
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Anna Koukkidis-Prokopiou, who was invited to the Committee as the political head of the Police, did not attend, as the Council of Ministers was meeting at the same time. The DISY and AKEL MPs expressed their dissatisfaction with the non-representation of the political leadership, noting that the importance of the events required the Minister to attend the Committee.
Within the Commission, parliamentarians from all parties condemned the violent events. There was tension between the President of the Committee, DISY MP Nikos Tornaritis and ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou, as after Mr Ioannou's statement, the former accused him of justifying the incidents with his position. For his part, the ELAM MP replied that the "third Attila" are not statements by ELAM, pointing to the rhetoric of the former ruling party, with Tornaritis replying that "statements were made that should never have been made".
A second tension then arose between AKEL's spokesman, MP George Loucaides and ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou. Mr. Loucaides asked the Chief of Police if the allegations of the president of the community Chlorakas about "fanatical Islamists" who settled in Chloraka are true, with the Chief answering negatively. Mr. Ioannou reacted by saying that the Community Council of Chlorakas is being targeted, with Mr. Loucaides replying that he does not talk to "fascists and Nazis" and Mr. Ioannou referring to "Stalin's crimes."
The President of the Committee, DISY MP Nikos Tornaritis, in statements after the end of the session, said that the Committee on Legal, Justice and Public Order did not examine the issue of migration, but only the incidents in Chloraka and Limassol. He said hate speech has hatched fascist groups. "Some are also in this Parliament," he said, adding that "yesterday we also saw a city councillor of a certain party move to hate speech and overcome it."
The mission of the rule of law and the authorities, he said, is to identify and bring to justice all masked men who take the law into their own hands. "Anyone who breaks the law in this place must be brought to justice," he said.
He regretted the non-presence of the Minister of Justice. "He had to be here," he said, as the issue is about the fear and insecurity felt by citizens. He asked for a full and thorough depiction of the events to be submitted on behalf of the Minister in the coming days.
"I am sure that the police knew both the organizers of the so-called events and those who motivated the whole state of affairs. We expected the Police to act in a better way and bring the results that Cypriot citizens expected. Unfortunately, in these two specific cases the police did not do their duty," he noted.
Asked if there should be resignations, Tornaritis said that as DISY they are not asking for resignations, but for the immediate suppression of violence.
For his part, AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said that the Committee recorded the political and institutional responsibilities of the Christodoulides government, the Ministry of Justice and the Police for the fact that "they failed miserably to protect unsuspecting citizens, their properties and other fellow human beings, regardless of origin, who are in the Republic of Cyprus."
The fact that there is no sense of security, he said, implies many actions to be taken. "In our view, a holistic approach is needed, which also concerns the process of examining applications and the procedures for repatriation or returns, but above all, given what happened in Chloraka, effective, humane integration policies in Cypriot society are needed, because if the logic of 'you are not Greek, barbarian' prevails, then Chloraka will be repeated, Limassol will be repeated and we will cry over ruins."
He added that the problem is not current, placing great blame on the previous government.
Asked if he was satisfied with the Chief of Police's answers, he replied "how much".
He also said that on Thursday, the Interior Committee will examine the issue of political and institutional management of migration flows as a whole.
For his part, MP Alekos Tryfonidis noted the chronic inadequacy of a proper migration policy.
"We welcome today the confession of the Chief of Police that despite the existence of a proper and appropriate operational plan, the Police failed to prevent violent incidents," he said. He added that all citizens have the right to demonstrate, but "masked protesters are forbidden to demonstrate", noting that the police should have arrested them as soon as they saw them, and not give them the signal to start the demonstration.
He noted that "we support the security forces and will provide them with the necessary guarantees and tools and human resources to have proper and effective policing and provide an upgraded sense of security to citizens", noting that the discrediting of security forces will bring more evils.
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou said that what happened in recent days is the result of the state's tolerance towards the ghettoisation of communities and areas. "For years, residents of Chloraka and other areas have felt insecure in their own neighbourhoods and the state should restore order and security to our country," he said.
He added that they do not believe that through violence or threats the migration issue in Cyprus can be solved. "ELAM submits its positions and proposals for resolving the migration issue and we are ready, in a climate of productivity in the committees and parliament, to come up with a strict migration policy, which will finally solve this very big problem," he said.
Within the Committee, DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou said that "there is no meaningful, middle, democratic, correct way in the country", speaking of extremes. "If someone wears a hood and threatens it's the same as someone threatening on camera to burn down an entire city," he said, noting that legality and democracy must be implemented. Referring to the Chief of Police, she said that migrant smuggling networks must be dismantled.
For her part, the MP of the Green Movement, Alexandra Attalidou, in her statement within the Committee, said that the violence of recent days is a consequence of the instrumentalization of migration. He focused on the spread of fake news by social media, which he said fuelled fear and insecurity. Addressing the Chief of Police, she asked the Police to make announcements refuting false news, referring to statements by the president of the community Chlorakas about "jihadists", the alleged stabbing of a police officer by a delivery man and the case of "kidnapping" of a national guardsman, which was not finally confirmed by his testimony. "Shut the mouths of those who lie," he said, adding that "police negligence justifies those who believe they have a right to beat people."
The president of the community of Chlorakas, Nikolas Liasidis, who gave his own testimony about the events within the Committee, said in statements after the conclusion of the Committee that the sense of security of citizens has long been broken and this culminated in the latest incidents. "We condemn incidents and any other form of aberration," he said, noting that violence does not bring results.
He added that more active rather than passive policing is needed, calling for the police to be given the right tools to prevent crime and incidents, "so that people can feel safe again in their neighborhoods".
Asked what the situation now is in Chloraka, he said that the situation is now calm, noting that there have been operations by the police to prevent incidents.
CNA
