Tents have been set up outside Limassol district office as members of the Movement for the Right to Shelter stage a 24 hour protest.
The Cyprus News Agency said that the protest started on Saturday night and some of the protesters spent the night in the tents.
Coordinator Lefteris Georgiou said that the protesters were advocating for human dignity for the homeless.
“We see a lot of pain,” he told the news agency, adding that the aim was to help those who were without a roof and faced financial problems.
“Some people have decided to deprive people of their dignity. We, the Movement for the Right to Shelter, will continue our campaign, we will continue to help the homeless from the streets, will continue to exercise pressure where we should,” he said.
The Movement is being registered as an association ‘En Ergo’. Its president lawyer Elina Zoe said the aim was to encourage citizens to be move active in pursuit of their rights.
The association is focusing at the start with the right to shelter and will then continue with other individual rights such as health and education, she said.
Representatives from AKEL, EDEK, the Greens and Animal Party Cyprus attended the protest and expressed support.
Figures submitted to parliament recently by Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou show that there has been a significant increase in the number of homeless people in Cyprus.
In total, the welfare services dealt with 129 cases in 2017, compared to 49 in 2016 and 26 in 2015.
The majority were third country nationals or EU citizens. Some are here illegally or have settled in Cyprus in search of work, she said.
The House Labour Committee has been discussing the sharp increase in rents islandwide, and particularly in Limassol and the problems this has created for vulnerable groups.
Read more
https://in-cyprus.com/limassol-municipality-planning-homeless-shelter/
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