Today I have spent the first half of the day in Nicosia at Russian Council. My brother, my wife, and myself all had to do some paperwork. After I have finished with my part and was waiting for my brother, I walked around and made few pictures. Apparently, the guard at Egyptian Embassy was all alerted and reported me to CID (if anyone knows what this abbreviation means, let me know). Two officers came, checked all my papers and questioned me. They checked my story over the phone with another guy who confirmed my status, my visa, and stuff like that. They have asked me (although I was first to suggest) to delete the pictures of the Egyptian Embassy building and the guard at the gates. Of course, I did. This is one of the beauties of the digital photography – you can delete a couple of images without ruining the whole film.
The only few pictures I was allowed to keep from Nicosia were with the photographer you can see on the left. He looked really cool, and when noticed me taking pictures of him, he shot me in return. Later, when the CID officer saw the picture of this guy on the display of my camera, he told me that this is a very famous photographer in Cyprus and that everyone knows him. Heh, looks like not everyone. Again, if anyone can recognize the guy, let me know.
The moral of the story (confirmed by arrived immigration officer) is: do not photograph any government buildings, military setups, courts, embassies, police offices, and the like. It can easily get you into trouble.
P.S.: Both CID officers that questioned me were very calm, polite, and generally positive. I was really impressed on how delicate and politically correct they handled the situation.
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