Just a few days after I’ve posted “Welcome to Cyprus“, Cyprus News reports about the clash between the anti-racism festival goers and nationalist groups.
THE effects of last Friday’s fracas between nationalist groups and festival goers at the antiracist Rainbow Festival were still being felt across Cyprus.With one Turkish Cypriot singer stabbed and at least 12 others – foreigners and locals alike – injured, it was commonly agreed that even this violent outcome was nowhere as bad as it could have been.THE effects of last Friday’s fracas between nationalist groups and festival goers at the antiracist Rainbow Festival were still being felt across Cyprus.With one Turkish Cypriot singer stabbed and at least 12 others – foreigners and locals alike – injured, it was commonly agreed that even this violent outcome was nowhere as bad as it could have been.
The video, perhaps, can illustrate what happened a bit better (if you just want the action, skip to 5:35).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlXk4ogvrY4]
While I’ve seen nationalist and xenophobic Cypriots before, this is the first time I see so many of them at the same place, so organized, and so dangerous. Actually, while I was watching this video, I had a strong feeling of deja vu. I’ve seen this somewhere before. Have you? A crowd of young, aggressive guys, well organized, with drums and loudspeakers, with sticks and other weapons, throwing chairs and what not, and having no respect for police at all – sounds familiar? There is only one other group of people that I know in Cyprus that fits the description – football hooligans.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrPjJmiShUc]
Is there really a connection between football hooligans and nationalist groups? I don’t know. But they do look quite similar to the outsider. And what else worries me is the police. It seems that at the state the police is in right now, it can’t really stand against either football hooligans or violent fascist raids.