Filenews 24 October 2025 - by Dora Christodoulou
Last Sunday's incident in the community of Timi in the province of Paphos, with the voluntary replacement of car wipers and the episode that followed, seems to be the tip of the iceberg on this issue. As it is now proven, the Police and local authorities have before them quite a few reports about the problem created by foreigners with their specific practice, however in most cases, apart from the reports, the citizens have not made complaints so that the Police can intervene.
We remind you that the problem came to the surface due to the seriousness of the last incident, last Sunday, when a citizen ended up beaten at the Nicosia General Hospital and underwent surgery. Foreigners changed their windshield wipers that day, without her permission and despite the protests of the owner of the vehicle, demanding payment for the replacement. The woman refused, calling on them to put back the wipers they replaced and when an acquaintance of the woman intervened to support her, the perpetrators beat him severely, as a result of which he was transferred and underwent surgery at the Nicosia General Hospital.
Police investigations that followed the complaint revealed that the 47-year-old had tried to defend a woman he knew, who refused to pay people to replace the wipers in her vehicle. These people had replaced supposedly worn wipers in the woman's vehicle in Timi, during the established Sunday bazaar in the community, without her permission.
The woman refused to pay, asking for her own wipers to be installed again, but the two foreigners countered that the ones they installed were disposable, and if they were removed they would break, insisting on being paid. The 47-year-old intervened and there was a fight resulting in his injury. The perpetrators have disappeared and are being sought by the Police.
The phenomenon of cunning people changing car wipers without asking for the permission of their drivers and then asking for money for the young people they installed, is common in various areas, not only in Paphos, but also throughout Cyprus, police sources told "F". They clarified that the publicity this practice received is due to the serious outcome of the last episode, however they stressed that this practice has been observed for many months. In the Paphos Police Department, however, they added, there are no other complaints other than this one, only informative reports from citizens and information.
Incidents of foreigners approaching car drivers trying to catch them off guard and change their wipers, then demanding money, the same sources said, were reported in previous months mainly outside supermarkets, malls and other commercial businesses where there is a lot of traffic. In some cases, he told us, these foreigners asked the drivers before proceeding with the replacement, in others, however, they proceeded with the move completely unexpectedly and without the approval of the vehicle owners.
The phenomenon, as we were told, is not only observed in Paphos, but at a pan-Cypriot level. In fact, in the previous months, it appeared more often than today, but it seems that the involvement of the Police in some cases and the reaction of the citizens when they got used to this voluntary appearance of these foreigners in front of them, began to reduce their action.
