AKEL on the violent attacks in Limassol and Ayia Napa

 

6 June 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The incidents of violent attacks in Limassol and Ayia Napa in recent days follow other similar incidents that generate concern. There can be no tolerance shown towards such phenomena, which not only constitute criminal offences, but are an insult to our country and the values of our people.

The authorities are called upon to investigate all aspects surrounding the latest incidents, to proceed with prosecutions. There must be severe punishment for the perpetrators of these assaults. The fact that the victims in one case were a foreign worker and in the other a Turkish Cypriot woman sets the authorities with the duty to thoroughly investigate the motives and circumstances in which the attacks took place. In the attack in Ayia Napa in particular, the fact that the victim was a Turkish Cypriot woman leads to negative associations and for that reason the immediate and decisive investigation of the case and the punishment of the perpetrators is demanded.

In any case, however, it is undeniable that any non-punishment regarding cases of racist violence, systematic tolerance of bigotry and hate rhetoric that poisons society, but also long-standing deficits in the educational system, accumulate erroneous phenomena which sooner or later the whole of society pays the price for.