Tag: crime

Home security exhibition in Cyprus

A lot has been said about the growing crime levels in Cyprus lately. Even though it is still safer than pretty much any other country in the world (no hard data here, just the feeling), Cyprus can’t pretend that nothing is happening. It was only a matter of time until the security business would pick up. And now, obviously, it did. Cyprus Mail reports the first home security exhibition is to take place in Pafos.

FOR THE first time in Cyprus, security companies from all over the island will gather together in Paphos to participate in a security exhibition which will take place this month. Organised by Peyia neighbourhood watch, the event will showcase everything from cameras and alarms to lights and movement sensors.

According to Peyia Neighbourhood Watch, this is the first event of its type and has the full support of the police. The aim of the event is to highlight the various options available on the market for preventing burglaries and thefts.

Instead of having the security arms race, I’d much prefer things went back to “normal”, the way they were 10-15-20 years ago.

World’s Most Dangerous Countries for Women

It’s been a while since I linked to the Big Picture blog. One of their recent posts thought struck a nerve.   It was covering the world’s most dangerous countries for women.  It’s difficult to imagine that these are not hundreds of years ago, but now !

Targeted violence against females, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, with Congo a close second due to horrific levels of rape. Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide (the destruction of a fetus in the uterus), genital mutilation and acid attack. A survey compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of TrustLaw Woman*, puts Afghanistan at the top of the list of the most dangerous places in the world for women. TrustLaw asked 213 gender experts from five contents to rank countries by overall perceptions of danger as well as by six categories of risk. The risks consisted of health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, cultural or religious factors, lack of access to resources and trafficking.

Cyprus police anti-brutality

Here is yet another story showing the soft side of Cyprus police:

At around 5am yesterday morning, the police chased a 24 year old across town who failed to stop when the police signalled him for an alco-test. The chase started in Kennedy street, and finished when he was captured at his house in Mammari village in the Kokkinotrimithia area. During the chase he went through 3 police road blocks injuring a policeman who was trying to stop him. At some point he drove into the buffer zone near his village forcing the police to stop chasing him; on his way back to the free areas he injured a second policeman. The police was forced to use their firearms in order to immobilise his car but even under fire and with broken tires the 24 year old continued driving. He managed to reach his house where he attacked another policeman and entered his house refusing to come out. He was finally arrested yesterday at 15:00. The police is holding the 24 year old’s car as evidence while they are suspecting that he entered the buffer zone to dispose illegal items he was carrying. His father claims his son entered the buffer zone because he was scared and the he didn’t notice the police road blocks due to limited visibility.

 

You are not welcome to Cyprus

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.