Disy leadership to visit Chlorakas after migrant protests

Disy’s leadership has said it is to visit the village of Chlorakas on Friday “to be informed firsthand by by both the residence and authorities about the whole situation, and to discuss with them ways to solve the problem”.

The move to visit the village comes after a group of around 100 residents of an apartment complex staged a protest outside the community council offices on Monday evening after the building’s electricity supply was cut. The building is predominantly inhabited by third country nationals.

It was alleged by Chlorakas’ mukhtar Nikolas Liasides that the building’s electricity supply was cut after some of the residents were found to be stealing the supply from a nearby substation.

The protest was initially peaceful until a group of demonstrators moved towards the substation at around 10pm on Monday, allegedly trying to restore their electricity supply.

At this point, the police’s anti-riot unit intervened, and the residents began to throw rocks at the officers. The police deployed chemical irritants to disperse the protesters.

While announcing their visit, Disy said “the situation as it develops in Chlorakas is unacceptable and condemnable and at the same time exposes the inability of those in government to implement law and order”.

“Citizens have a right to feel safe. Those being welcomed to Cyprus should know their obligations: to respect the laws of the country that hosts them and the property of its citizens”, they added.

They also said “extreme behaviour and incidents of violence should be dealt with decisively and where appropriate with the measure of expulsion. For some time now, Disy has been warning about the dangers of this phenomenon of ghettoization. In addition to enforcing order and dealing with disorder, the problem should be tackled holistically and at its root”.

“The whole of society and all of our citizens expect us to meet the challenge, at the same time respecting our international obligations for those who are genuinely at risk in their countries and entitled to asylum and protection”, they added, saying they “stand by” the residents of the area.