O’Dwyer launches one-man protest at presidential palace
By Nathan Morley Published on October 1, 2010
A BRITISH man has started a 4-day peaceful protest camped outside the Presidential Palace in Nicosia to highlight his ongoing case over a disputed property.
The action saw Conor O’Dwyer spend the night sleeping just yards from the main entrance of the palace and is part of a high-profile campaign to publicise his lengthy legal battle with a Paralimni based developer.
Taking time out of his protest, he told the Cyprus Mail: “If I saw the President pass me here I would tell him that I and other foreign nationals have suffered dearly with the incompetence and delays in the judicial system. There has to be a priority for people who have lost everything,” he said.
Camped outside the main perimeter fence, with only his mobile phone, two banners, a suitcase and a cardboard mattress, O’Dwyer vowed to continue his protests until he receives justice.
“Police have asked me to move on, but I have explained this is peaceful and I will not move. For four years now I've been trying to find justice in the Cyprus courts against a developer who has assaulted me twice, unlawfully sold my family’s house registered to us in the Land Registry and kept our money all my cases have been delayed, delayed and delayed.
“I intend to carry on this protest every time I come to Cyprus for court proceedings and am forced away from my family,” he added.
The controversy began when in 2005 when O’Dwyer claims he purchased a house in Frenaros that was then was resold without his knowledge by the developers.
The developers have dismissed the accusations and accused O’Dwyer of attempting to extort a more expensive house from them – a charge that O’Dwyer flatly denies.
The situation further escalated when O’Dwyer claimed that the same developer, his son and another man beat him up following an incident outside the disputed house in early 2007.
O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital after the alleged attack and an assault case against the developer is still unresolved, with him being forced to jet back and forth from England since January to be present court hearings.
“I have a clear record of all the times I have travelled from the UK and can produce them for you so you can see the extent of the suffering. Something that not a lot of people would be able to endure,” he said.
While his action is directed at the government and a domestic audience, it is bound to be picked up by foreign media, with O’Dwyer’s case recently being featured on the front page of the best selling Star Kibris tabloid in the north.
O’Dwyer’s lawyers are understood to have met with Nicosia police and British High Commission officials’ yesterday afternoon to inform them of the protest.
Video clips of O’Dwyer’s plight posted online caused have caused outrage amongst many home-owners, who are demanding to know why the dispute was not quickly settled in court.
The case sent shock waves through expatriate communities across the island; where as tens of thousands of Britons own property, with expressions of sympathy and support stacking community forums and message boards.
For O’Dwyer, the action is the latest in a series of high profile demonstrations, two years-ago he held a protest outside the Cyprus High Commission in London, followed by a colourful protest, camped at the main entrance to Earls Court during a property exhibition in March.
Over 200 exhibitors, representing more than 40 countries worldwide witnessed the highly visible stand set up by O’Dwyer – which displayed banners reading ‘Shame on Cyprus’.
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