Ombudswoman says police had legal right to intervene in violence

Ombudswoman Maria Sylianou Lottides in a strongly worded letter to police leadership weighed in on Friday’s racial violence in Limassol, adding to the growing number of voices denouncing police inaction.

She said the right to peaceful assembly had been perverted in Limassol, and earlier in Chlorakas, and that this by itself should have given authorities the right to intervene, in accordance with the provisions of law and the principle of proportionality.

“The right to peaceful assembly wore the ‘hood’ of violence breaching third parties’ physical integrity and causing material damage to their properties,” the ombudswoman said.

The right to peaceful assembly can be restricted when restrictions are deemed by law to be necessary in the interest of public security or for the protection of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, she added.

These rights “apply to all persons residing in the territory of the Republic without exception”.

Based on what they had before them the police had the right to intervene legally and either prevent the violence or suppress it.

“The absence of immediate intervention enabled protesters to violate the rights of third parties and commit criminal acts,” Lottides said, adding that this is in itself enough to warrant an investigation and bring those responsible to court.

She said that there is an essential need for public awareness and training of frontline officials, so they can recognise and deal with hate crimes – which carry a heavier penalty- and so deter would-be copycats.

She called on police leadership to take into account the racist motives of the instigators when investigating the crimes that took place.

“I expect the chief of police to take into account the racist motive that was aimed at a group of people with specific characteristics and examine [offenders] based on the components of the hate crimes,” she said.

“The woman from Vietnam was not the enemy, the enemy is the inaction, [and] the fear and poverty that dragged her to our country,” Lottides said referring to an immigrant restaurant owner whose iconic image, caught sobbing in front of her destroyed shop, became emblematic of the horror of recent events.