The Archbishopric needs to make clear whether it has been financing far right organisations or not, said migrant rights’ activist Doros Polycarpou yesterday. Speaking at the presentation of a study on racist crimes yesterday, the head of migrant support group KISA called on the Archbishopric to clarify its link, or not, to extreme organisations like those involved in the attack on a group of festival goers at Larnaca promenade last Friday. Polycarpou said he had “unconfirmed reports” that the Archbishopric was financially supporting racist groups. “We have unconfirmed reports that to some degree these organisations are receiving financial assistance from the Archbishopric for their activities,” he said. He called on the church to deny the charges if they were unfounded, adding that the participation of certain groups with connections to the church at last week’s anti-migrant march was a cause for concern. The under-fire NGO representative has been the subject of criticism for last week’s violent clashes after KISA’s decision to hold an anti-racist festival in Larnaca to counter the planned anti-migrant march by extremist organisations.
The police and Polycarpou have exchanged accusations as to who was to blame, with the latter arguing that police were too ill-prepared, under-equipped and unorganised, failing in their duty to keep the two groups apart. KISA handed over photographic and video material to Larnaca CID in the hope of criminal prosecution, reportedly showing members of the public instigating the violence. Polycarpou yesterday said the people involved in the fracas and allegedly identified in the video material were “people that none of us would suspect”. He proceeded to list a Nicosia high school literature teacher, a judge from Greece, a person with a leading role in the Larnaca scouts and an Agriculture Ministry official. He warned that last week’s events revealed that these fringe organisations have now acquired “access to significant people in decision-making centres”. Justice Minister Loucas Louca said yesterday that the police file on last week’s violent episode has been handed over to the Attorney-general to decide on whether any criminal offences were committed, including possible racist crimes. The police will also evaluate whether any disciplinary offences were committed.
Meanwhile, co-author of the report on “Racist and related hate crimes” in Cyprus, Nicos Trimikliniotis, said yesterday that last week’s incident “was not a bolt out of the blue”. Trimikliniotis, from the National Focal Point for Racism and Xenophobia, highlighted the inadequacies of the recording and monitoring of racist related crimes in Cyprus, with real cases exceeding official figures. He estimated that the recent escalation of racist crime was “based on the fact that the measures taken are not effective because the relevant provisions of the law are not being implemented”, adding that the situation was “deteriorating”. Head of the Authority against Racism and Discrimination, Aristos Tsiartas, didn’t hold back in his assessment on the recent violence. “The symbolism of the raw violence shows that the explosion and diffusion of criminal violence unfortunately is winning continuous ground and now taking on alarming proportions,” he said. “Without doubt, the problem of racism and xenophobia is becoming a dangerous issue in Cyprus,” he said, adding that violent racist acts were increasing with the main culprits appearing to be young members of far-right organisations. He said the report compiled by Trimikliniotis and Corina Demetriou was “timely”.
Noting the wide-spread condemnation of last week’s violence, Tsiartas described as “less understandable and somewhat hypocritical” those who, on the one hand, feign surprise and concern, and on the other, systematically reinforce their “bigoted and anti-migrant rhetoric, poisoning society with feelings of insecurity and fear”. A characteristic thread linking all recent cases of racial crime is the lack of punishment of perpetrators. He proceeded to ask: “What sanctions were imposed on those responsible for mass invasion into the homes of migrants in Ipsonas (Limassol) two years ago? What sanctions were imposed on those who attacked en masse, in December 2008, a pupil of African descent in a basketball match? What sanctions were imposed against those who attacked Turkish Cypriots who dared to go down Makarios Avenue (in Nicosia) two years ago? What sanctions were imposed on the perpetrators who attacked an African student on July 20 (2010)? Or the perpetrators of the attack on the building of the Palestinian community in Larnaca last April?” He called on the relevant authorities to record, monitor and tackle racist and hate crimes with decisiveness and resolve. “What comes out of the report is that racist violence against migrants unfortunately is a painful reality of modern Cypriot society,” said Tsiartas. Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou concurred: “From the findings of the report and other studies preceding it, I think you will agree that there is prejudice, there is xenophobia and there is racism.”
Lagging behind
The reort on ‘Racist and related hate crimes’ revealed that Cyprus is lagging far behind in recording, monitoring and dealing with race crimes. “Unfortunately, despite the significant improvements made after EU accession, our country has no tradition of effective recording and monitoring of racist or other hate crimes,” said co-author Nicos Trimikliniotis. The report is based on evidence collected on behalf of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. According to the report, recording racist crime began in 2005 with the police creating “a rather basic mechanism” for recording racial incidents. It notes that the relevant police unit is understaffed and overloaded with other mandates. Co-author Corina Demetriou highlights that since 2005, around five to six racist attacks were recorded on average each year. In reality, cases are much higher but tend to go unreported, either as a result of state inadequacies or the victim’s fear or reluctance to do so. Only two of these cases were prosecuted for racism related offences since 2005 when the recording system came into operation.
Regarding the prosecution of racially motivated crimes, the report notes a number of restrictive factors including: “the dilemma in safeguarding freedom of speech, the wide discretion of the Attorney General to prosecute or not and the negative precedent of the Court acquitting a blatant far right offender in 2005” which made the prosecution authorities reluctant to prosecute offenders for racial crime. “Instead a tendency has developed to prosecute for lesser offences (breach of the peace, assault etc) in order to secure convictions,” it added. Citing research on racial hatred, the report reveals “the negative predisposition of Cypriots towards immigration and towards non-Greek-Cypriots which manifests itself into violence towards particularly vulnerable groups such as the female migrant domestic workers, black footballers at the pitch and Turkish Cypriots”. The study attributes the escalation of racial violence in recent years to the rise in far right extremist elements coupled with the inadequacy of measures to combat racial hatred. “Little is available by way of good practice in this area,” it concludes.
Cyprus Mail
