Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

A SEMINAR on tackling racism and xenophobia was yesterday held at the Police Academy in Nicosia.

The seminar was attended by assistant to the chief of police Charalambos Koulentis and Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou.

The aim was to raise awareness of the problems and for the protection of human rights.

Koulentis said that, “combating racism and xenophobia is a prime concern of the European Union and these issues concern everybody. The police take these issues very seriously and they are not just political and legal issues.”

He said officers were undergoing 100 hours of training so they could be better equipped to deal with the problem.

As part of the fight, the police have set up an Anti-Discrimination department.
Nicolaou explained that, “although there have been differences between my department and the police in the past, I fully back this campaign against racial discrimination and xenophobia and agree that it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with. This new department is necessary in order to serve a modern community.”

Our police will need a lot more seminars in order to be improved. Most policemen are people that have barely managed to finish high school

[Main_Source]

Whats in the curriculum of schools in Cyprus regarding history? I think if a country like Cyprus is going to battle racism, they are going to have to learn about peoples around the world and their history. The main problem is ignorance.

[Piratis]

I believe there are 2 kinds of racism.
The first is the kind were people grew up in an environment that considered certain races as inferior.
The second is a more complicated one were people hate certain races because they consider them as a thread. I believe that the number of this second group of racists is the one that is increasing in Cyprus now because they see foreigners that come to Cyprus, accept lower salaries, and make them jobless.

I think this is an international phenomenon though. The industrialists want foreign cheap labor in (so supposedly they are not racists) while the lower classes that get hit with unemployment because of the influx of foreigners develop some racist feelings.

[Main_Source]

In the case of your second groups of racists...maybe the Cypriots should consider many of their relatives also went to foregin countries and accepted lower salaries. I dont know if the immigrants who are coming over are looking for a cheap ride and getting something for nothing...like many of the new immigrants coming to the UK today....but many of the Cypriots who came to the UK were hard working but suffered the same racism as the immigrants who come to Cyprus today.

Its weird for me...I always saw Cyprus as a place where people immigrate FROM and not TO, in order to find work. If only you could have seen my face a few years ago when I heard a Bangladeshi talk to me in Greek or a Phillipino woman say 'Ah, mana mou' in the street.

Its basically ignorance that I think that some Cypriots have racist tendencies. Maybe if someone told the the similarities that these immigrants have suffered as Greek Cypriots have, Cypriots will start to be more accepting.

[Svetlana]

I know there is a popular belief that there is much racism amongst the Police here. Certainly, those with dark skins and Pontians, together with some Eastern Europeans, get a hard time.

Some ex-pats believe that, while the Police let off their 'koumbare' from traffic offences, if you are a foreigner they are tougher on you. I suspect much of that is paranoia.

My personal experiences are that they are polite, helpful and speak 'reasonable to good' English, albeit a little unsophistciated in terms of DNA testing, electronic survelance etc.

Hi Main Source, yes, I know it is so strange to hear the Sri Lancan and Filipino maids speaking Greek in the streets!

Lana

[lysi]

Do the the cypriot police still use electric cattle prods on suspects ? or have there use been banned.
Also nicosia CID have a nasty habit of smacking people about. my advice is stay away from the police in cyprus.

[pumpernickle]

How come you know so much about Cypriot police, Lysi? is there something you are not telling us?

Also, I know for a fact the cops are not racist towards Slavs.

Look at the cabarets. If they were that racist, they wouldn't choose to have off-duty 'seminars' in such establishments, now would they.

Hint Hint.

nb: I have not experienced Cyp Cops yet, although I have noticed their tendency towards 'swinging their bollocks' around, i.e. flash their guns and show off the tools.

Come on, for crying out loud, if London's Met Police can walk the streets of Peckham and Brixton armed with nothing but a tube of liquid that hurts your eyes, and a small batton, I'm sure Cypriot police can do without the big packin' guns!!

The only place in Cyprus that experiences crime of any real discernable description is Limassol, and that's about 2 burglaries a month and the od bungled raid on a jewellers shop where the suspects get busted with their pants down by their ankles in the first 5 minutes. Cos they are stupid, and Cyprus is hardly the easiest place in the world to hide.

[Sotos]

The only place in Cyprus that experiences crime of any real discernable description is Limassol

This is just Nicosia propaganda! Don't listen to what the Nicosia controlled media tell you

[TheCabbie]

Well I have witnessed Police brutality on several occasions, I've seen a Cypriot teenager kicked until, and while he was screaming under a bench in a Police station, and I've seen Scottish youths having their faces banged against the roof of a Police car.

In both cases it doesn't bother me much, if that's what it takes to keep street crime low, then so be it.

What did bother me a was when a Police officer said that as the victim of a traffic accident was a foreigner, and the driver of the other vehicle was Cypriot, they "wouldn't be investigating it too much".