Cyprus police arrest 13 after anti-immigrant marchers set hearth to trash bins and injury storefronts

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus police arrested 13 folks after a mob smashed storefronts and set quite a few trash bins on hearth throughout an anti-immigration march within the coastal resort metropolis of Limassol, authorities mentioned Saturday.

Police mentioned 5 folks reported that that they had been assaulted throughout Friday night time’s march that concerned some 500 demonstrators. All 5 have been handled in hospital and launched.

Amongst these arrested was the alleged organizer of the march.

Newbie video broadcast on native information retailers and web sites individually confirmed a number of broken storefronts, trash bins burning on the street and a gaggle of protesters chanting anti-immigrant slogans.

The violence erupted solely 4 days after a gaggle of Greek Cypriots sporting hoods and brandishing bats tried to assault protesting Syrians in a small village that has been a hotbed of tensions between locals and migrants.

Police had arrested no less than two dozen folks in reference to that violence within the southeastern village of Chloraka the place parallel protests by some 250 Syrians and an equal variety of Greek Cypriots degenerated into violence.

Tensions over a big inflow of migrants have been simmering on the east Mediterranean island nation the place authorities have struggled to deal with the numbers.

Officers have repeatedly mentioned migrants comprise some 6% of the island’s inhabitants, greater than 5 occasions that of the typical in different European Union member nations.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides condemned what he known as “pictures of disgrace,” suggesting that the violence was the product of a gaggle of petty criminals with no actual connection to the migration scenario. “What we noticed final night time had nothing to do with the migration situation and we shouldn’t confuse the 2,” Christodoulides instructed reporters. “If all these individuals who have been concerned cherished or cared about their nation, they wouldn’t have dedicated such acts which above all heap disgrace on it.”

The Cypriot president mentioned authorities within the final six months have each managed to considerably curb migrant arrivals and enhance repatriations whereas expediting asylum purposes to the tune of 80%.

Christodoulides mentioned the federal government would “stand by” the homeowners of the shops broken within the violence and has known as a gathering with police officers to debate what occurred through the march.

One other pro-immigrant demonstration is deliberate for Saturday night.