Severe attacks on migrants in Cyprus: shops demolished, incendiary devices thrown

Limassol (Cyprus) – After a demonstration against refugees and migrants there were serious riots in the Cypriot port city of Limassol on Friday evening.

Around 350 masked men attacked migrant shops and the people themselves, threw incendiary devices and stones and set garbage cans on fire, the newspaper said Cyprus Times reported on Saturday.

The police used tear gas, five people were injured, there were 13 arrests. According to media reports, the masked people are right-wing extremists. Right-wing extremists had already attacked migrants in the small town of Chloraka last weekend.

Television pictures showed passers-by running to safety while the masked people chanted “Migrants out of Cyprus” and rioted.

As late as Friday evening, President Nikos Christodoulidis (49) spoke of “shameful pictures”, like the broadcaster RIK reported.

On Saturday morning, a crisis meeting took place in the presidential building with the responsible ministers, the police, civil defense and the fire brigade.

According to the Cypriot Interior Ministry, refugees and migrants now make up six percent of the population.

Measured by population, the small island republic also has by far the highest number of asylum applications per year in the EU.

The refugee camps are overcrowded, and ghettos have formed in many places where people live in poverty. These conditions serve as a reason for the riots for the ultra-right.

According to the definition of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), migrants are all people who leave their place of residence – regardless of the reason, how long or whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

Refugees, on the other hand, seek protection from war or the threat of persecution, for example because of their religion, nationality or their political convictions.

Refugees are also migrants, but not all migrants are refugees.