Residents of the Lykavittos area in Nicosia, along with organised parents from the local primary school, are opposing a state plan to open a housing centre for unaccompanied migrant minors near the school, and have begun collecting signatures against it.
The school is located very close to the site chosen for the facility. Residents and parents say they are prepared to take stronger action if authorities go ahead with the plan unilaterally without addressing their objections.
The objectors say no consultation took place with residents before the decision, and that they were given no advance notice. They also raise safety concerns for schoolchildren and other residents in the area, saying they have since learned the facility would reportedly be an “open type” structure, according to what they say they have been told.
Stelios Hadjigeorgiou, a representative of Lykavittos residents and school parents, told philenews that the choice of location was problematic and that questions had also been raised over the legality of operating such a facility at that specific site. He said the residents’ and parents’ main concern was the safety of young children attending the neighbourhood school. Hadjigeorgiou also questioned why the state did not use an existing facility instead, given that accommodation there would be temporary, pending the repatriation of the unaccompanied minors.
Referring to the school’s existing pupils with a migration background, Hadjigeorgiou said those children had been integrated without any problems. He said concern over the new facility was linked mainly to incidents reported at other facilities that he described as having had serious consequences, without specifying further details.
The issue was discussed the previous evening at a Nicosia Municipal Council meeting, where the majority of councillors spoke against the facility operating at the chosen site. Several Lykavittos residents attended the session and said they were satisfied with the council’s position, though they said they were still awaiting responses from other state authorities and want the plans for the facility changed.
Philenews also understands that the issue was discussed a few days earlier by the School Board, with parents taking part. Most views expressed reportedly converged on opposition to the facility operating at that particular site.
The issue is expected to remain active in the coming days, with organised residents and parents saying they are determined to continue mobilising, and have not ruled out a protest outside the Presidential Palace.