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Destruction in one of Limassol's main shopping streets after far-right riots
Photo: Kostas Pikoulas / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO
After a demonstration against refugees and migrants, there have been serious riots in the Cypriot port city of Limassol. Around 350 masked suspected right-wing extremists – some media reported up to 500 – attacked migrants' shops and the people themselves on Friday evening. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis was indignant: He was ashamed of the incidents, he said at the beginning of a crisis meeting on Saturday morning. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice, the Civil Protection, the police and the fire brigade.
"I am ashamed of what happened yesterday," said Christodoulidis. "Even those who are responsible should be ashamed of themselves." By this he meant the organizers of the demonstration as well as the police and the responsible ministers, to whom he reproached: "It cannot be that the state cannot protect its citizens and foreigners."
According to media reports, the masked men had chanted "migrants out of Cyprus". They threw incendiary devices and stones, set fire to garbage cans and smashed shops and takeaways. The police used tear gas and a water cannon. Five people were injured and 13 arrests were made, according to the Cyprus Times.
A journalist who covered the riots said the masked men had attacked foreigners, who in turn received help from other Cypriots to get to safety. "The police were unable to protect citizens and journalists." A TV crew was also attacked by the masked men. Cypriot media complained of "pogrom-like conditions". Last weekend, right-wing extremists attacked migrants in the small town of Chloraka.
Overcrowded refugee camps
According to the Cypriot Ministry of the Interior, refugees and migrants now make up six percent of the population. The small island republic also has by far the highest number of asylum applications per year in the EU in terms of population. The refugee camps are overcrowded, ghettos have formed in many places, where people live in poverty. These conditions serve as an occasion for the ultra-right for the riots.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 following a Greek coup and Turkish military intervention. The Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the EU since 2004. As long as there is no solution to the division, EU law and regulations only apply in the southern part of the island. Around 900,000 people live there, and around 300,000 in the north. In recent years, Cypriot governments have repeatedly complained that migrants from Turkey travel legally to Northern Cyprus and from there cross the green border into Southern Cyprus and thus into the EU.
tgk/dpa