The Government and Police have failed miserably to protect unsuspecting citizens
Statement by AKEL MP Aristos Damianou after the meeting of the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee
6 September 2023
Today in the Legal Affairs Committee we discussed the aspect of Public Order and Security regarding the deplorable, unacceptable and reprehensible events that took place over the past few days in Chloraka and subsequently in Limassol. As you know, tomorrow, after a scheduled meeting, the Internal Affairs Committee will examine the overall issue of the political and institutional handling of migratory flows, an issue which is very serious with many aspects and which needs to be handled effectively, far from any extremist and intolerant political discourse.
Today in the Legal Affairs Committee, the self-evident has been recorded. Namely the political and institutional responsibilities of the Christodoulides government, the Ministry of Justice and the Police for the fact that they have failed miserably to protect unsuspecting citizens, their property and other fellow citizens of all origins who live in the Republic of Cyprus. The fact that there is no sense of security implies that many actions need to be taken.
But first and foremost, effective handling on the part of the structures of the state are demanded, whether they are at a political, institutional level or at the Presidential level as it is easy to channel staged communication videos of Presidents criticising Ministers and Police Chiefs.
The difficult thing is to translate these into effective policies for the benefit of society and citizens. In AKEL’s view, a holistic approach is needed, which of course also concerns the procedure for examining applications and the procedures for repatriation or return, but first and foremost, given what happened in Chloraka, effective human integration policies are needed in Cypriot society because if the logic of “anyone who isn’t Greek is barbarian” prevails, then Chloraka will happen again, Limassol will happen again and we will be crying over ruins. Because at the end of the day democracy and legitimacy are the victims, while the winners are the neo-fascists and their ideological concepts.
I grasp this opportunity to say that the problem is one that has emerged today. The previous government is very much to blame. The shortcomings of the present government are documented, but the responsibilities of its predecessors who ruled for ten years are much greater and much more glaring.
