NGO’s and Nicosia residents unite to condemn ‘racist’ police

The treatment of migrants by police, in an effort to crackdown on crime and illegal immigration in Nicosia, has come under scrutiny.


Cyprus’ leading migrant support organisation joined forces with residents and activist groups recently to demonstrate against Nicosia police’s latest hunt for illegal immigrants in the old town area of the city.

Police methods have changed little since a crackdown on the flow of illegal migrants into the European Union began several years ago. Cyprus has the second highest incidence of asylum applicants entering the EU per capita, behind Malta, with many entering the republic from the occupied areas in the north.

Police detained 150 people during a dawn raid in Nicosia on 25 September, although only 36 of those taken for questioning were found to be residing in Cyprus illegally.

According to local NGO, KISA (Action for Equality Support, Antiracism), the police road blocks and raids on private homes focused on suspects ‘on the basis of the colour of their skin,’ while police procedure was described as “wrong,” and reinforcing a view of “xenophobia and racism in our society,” by Interior Minister, Neoclis Sylikiotis.

The police defended the dawn operation ‘Broom’ as a response to an increase in crime in the old town, largely blamed on the city’s growing migrant community.

“The aim was to prevent crime, solve crimes committed and reinstate the sense of security of residents and visitors to Nicosia within the walls,” stated Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou during a press conference.

However, lack of statistical evidence to support the growth of criminal activity was criticised by KISA in a statement released following the raids, “The operation, staged in full view of the media and with the whole of Cyprus watching, did nothing more than feed racism and xenophobia and falsely link migrants to crime.”

KISA spokesman, Doros Polycarpou, called the police action a ‘clear violation,’ describing the treatment meted out to those caught up in the sweep, “The police entered bedrooms at 5am; they didn’t ask for a residency permit they asked for passports. They didn’t want to hear them when they tried to explain that they were legal residents,” he explained.

He claimed that those sent for questioning, including a mother and her two children and a pregnant woman who was subsequently detained, were prevented from taking money or mobile phones with them. Once cleared, he says, they were refused access to a phone or transport and left to walk several kilometres back to the city.

Crime has been highlighted as a major concern since a violent clash between worshippers at the Omeriye mosque in August; twelve people implicated in the dispute were arrested during operation Broom.

Polycarpou angrily refutes police claims of soaring crime in the city, “The statements made after the event tried to connect migrants with criminality. These people need each other they do not engage in organised crime against their neighbours,” he said, adding that young Cypriots have been reported as entering the old town at night specifically to start trouble with migrant groups.

Police methods have changed little since a crackdown on the flow of illegal migrants into the European Union began several years ago.

Cyprus has the second highest incidence of asylum applicants entering the EU per capita, behind Malta, with many entering the republic from the occupied areas in the north.

According to Eurostat, Cyprus received 4,370 asylum applications in 2008, predominantly from Syrian, Sri Lankan, Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals.

Earlier this year, 200 migrants were rounded up in Nicosia in the early hours of the morning to have their papers inspected; only 55 were found to residing in Cyprus illegally.

A similar sting took place in the city in July 2004 when 250 officers raided homes and placed 729 people on buses for questioning at their Rapid Reaction Unit headquarters; 70 of those brought in were sent to the airport for deportation after the raids.

Three weeks ago Alithia published details from minutes they claim were leaked from a closed session of a parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee meeting in September.

During a discussion on foreigners held in the central prison AKEL deputy Aristofanis Georgiou allegedly made a suggestion to “put them on a ship so they can leave,” to which, the documents contend, Cyprus’ chief of police replied, “Give us the power and we’ll clean Nicosia and Cyprus.”

Commenting on the claims Justice Minister Loucas Louca said that the alleged remarks had not been attributed the correct meaning, and vowed to continue the immigration sweeps, “Unless the public and other stakeholders demand that illegal immigrants remain in Cyprus.”

While people trafficking and illegal entry is acknowledged as a growing problem for the EU, it is harassment of innocent legal migrants swept up in the police operations that has incensed support groups and NGO’s.

A recent demonstration was attended by around 200 people from refugee and migrant organisations and Nicosia residents, including ‘Awake Within the Walls’ and ALERT (Movement for Police Brutality and its Judicial Whitewash) which was formed in protest against the street beating of two handcuffed Cypriot students in December 2005.

Although the incident was caught on camera, the 43 minute long footage of the attack was ruled inadmissible by the High Court, leading to the acquittal of all ten police officers involved.

The island’s police force faces increasing accusations of misconduct, most notably in the case of the escape of convicted rapist and murderer Antonis Prokopiou Kitas from custody in 2008.

A report into the incident led to the resignation of Chief of Police Iacovos Papacostas, although three of the four officers accused of aiding Kitas’ escape have returned to duty after their suspensions were lifted over legal technicalities.

Speaking publicly on political show ‘Eponymos’ in June, Attorney General Petros Clerides suggested that corruption is thriving within the island’s police force. Doros Ioannides, head of the Nicosia bar association has also spoken out, condemning the growing phenomenon of police “taken to court on a daily basis for their own crimes instead of leading criminals to justice.”

Fifty-seven complaints of alleged misconduct have been submitted to the Independent Police Complaints Authority this year, including 22 concerning human-rights violations, many of which also alleged physical abuse.

In a 2005 report the state ombudswoman described the handling of immigrants held in Cyprus’ prisons as “wretched and on the verge of humiliating” while KISA has levelled numerous accusations against the police accusing them of using unorthodox tactics in dealing with asylum applications and in their treatment of migrants.

They sum up the consequences of the latest operation, “We do not know if the above practices restore a sense of ‘security’ amongst racists; but what we can say with certainty is that they shatter the dignity of migrants and every trace of security and trust they may have had in the state and the authorities.”