Citizens are set to gather in Limassol on Saturday to march in protest against rising incidents of racist violence in Cyprus.
The march is scheduled to start a 7 pm at the GSO area near Molos, Limassol.
The protest named “March against fascist pogroms” is organised and supported by a number of left-wing activist groups in Limassol and Nicosia.
“Against racist pogroms and attacks against migrants in Chloraka and all over. Against the vile coverage of the media that make excuses for racist violence. Against the fascists wearing ties that encourage the mob and are shocked that it came this far. Against racist policy that divides, exploits, imprisons and deports migrants. Against division and conflict between the communities,” the organisers wrote in the Facebook description of the event.
They continue: “Intercommuncal violence, racist attacks, serve the political agenda of fascists and the ruling class, through the violence of the mob sows division between the oppressed of this society. Because our problems are not caused by migrants but by those who decide both about their lives and about ours. Because the enemy does not come by boat, but by limousine.”
Racist violence in Cyprus this year
On August 27, a group of far-right activists broke from an “anti-ghettoisation” protest in Chloraka and attacked migrants, while breaking the windows of shops and homes of Syrian residents with stones and injured people inside.
In June, police said that recorded incidents of bias-motivated violence have increased yearly, highlighting the negative consequences of the growing hostility towards refugees and migrants.
This year, a black boy was a victim of a bias-motivated attack by other local children in his school, while foreign delivery drivers have been subject to multiple attacks.
Also, in May 2023, a Cypriot man was sentenced to eight months for beating a pregnant African woman to the ground in Larnaca. The incident was caught on tape, causing outrage on the island.
A number of political figures and organisations on the island have called for a reconfiguration of the Republic’s integration policies, which as they argue leaves migrants and refugees in vulnerable circumstances.
Furthermore, a Council of Europe report in March highlighted that hate speech remains widespread in the country which has seen a spike in the arrival of migrants and people seeking asylum in recent years.
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Authorities on red alert over anti-immigration protest in Limassol on Friday evening
