One might wonder what the Paris Police would do if the supporters of a French football club decided to fill the trees on the Champs-Élysées with slogans, or how the authorities in Germany would react if mindless individuals spray-painted the trunks of the lime trees on Unter den Linden.
One thing is for sure: such an action would immediately mobilise the responsible authorities, who would investigate and track down the perpetrators for severe punishment.
When a similar incident happens in Cyprus, however, it is considered a minor issue and is placed very low on the priority list of the authorities. This was evident on Sunday, 17 March, when a group of supporters decided to fill the city with slogans after their team lost a league match.
These mindless individuals, who hid behind carnival masks, did not limit themselves to their usual practice of spraying walls, public parks, playgrounds, and private properties.
They decided to take their act further by targeting the trunks of the towering date palms that have adorned the coastal road of Athens Avenue for over a century. They took on the symbol of the city’s most tourist area, spraying not one or two but over half of the palm trees facing the sea, from the Larnaca Marina to the Medieval Castle.
Now, the Larnaca Municipality, with the help of agronomists, is attempting to find ways to remove the eyesore without harming the palms, as using the wrong materials could potentially kill them. And all this is being done because of a bunch of hooligans who are allowed to get away with it, as their crimes are not taken seriously.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the same culprits spray-painted shop windows and walls in Ermou Square, with footage available of their actions.
This is just one example of the most serious incident of thoughtless slogan painting in Larnaca recently. However, the problem is island-wide, troubling all municipalities that spend large annual budgets to remove graffiti and repair damage to public property.
Impunity is the main reason this phenomenon has grown to such proportions. The police are primarily responsible for this, as they make very few arrests for graffiti, even though they could exploit the testimonies of locals and closed-circuit television to track down the perpetrators.
The football clubs themselves also share the blame, as they turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of their organised supporters, both inside and outside the stadium.
Meanwhile, as long as these supporters and other vandals who target public spaces remain unpunished, they will become bolder, and it is only a matter of time before they cause irreparable damage to ancient monuments and significant tourist attractions.
