Skip to main content

Ανακοίνωση του Amnesty International (Διεθνής Αμνηστία) για την Καταστολή της Πορείας Ως Δαμέ (25/02/21)

Amnesty International UK

Press releases

Cyprus: Police violence must be investigated, and protest ban lifted 

25 Feb 2021, 09:23am

Witness testimonies and video evidence show excessive use of force by police against protesters

‘The police were throwing stun grenades among the crowd. There were people on the ground, spitting blood, unable to breathe’ - Anastasia Demetriadou

Freedom of association also under attack as authorities attempt to shut down anti-racism organisation 

Cypriot authorities must lift the unlawful and disproportionate blanket ban on demonstrations, Amnesty International said today, after reviewing disturbing testimony from protesters who were attacked by police.

During an anti-corruption protest in Nicosia on 13 February, police subjected peaceful protesters to beatings, water cannon, chemical irritants and stun grenades.

Amnesty interviewed protesters who were at the demonstration, during which one woman suffered a permanent injury to her sight, and reviewed audio-visual material that revealed violence against peaceful protesters.

Kondylia Gogou, Greece and Cyprus Researcher at Amnesty International, said:

“The violent actions used by the police highlight the lengths to which the Cypriot authorities will go. This is deeply worrying where human rights continue to come under attack in the country.

“Cypriot authorities must urgently ensure that human rights violations committed by police during the 13 February demonstration are promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigated.

“We also urge that the rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly be restored.”

Anastasia Demetriadou, a protester who was injured, told Amnesty:

“We were surrounded by police and people were asking them to let us pass. At that point they started the beatings with batons, using batons on the head, and we were scared.

“The police were throwing stun grenades among the crowd. There were people on the ground, spitting blood, unable to breathe.” 

Anastasia was severely injured in her left eye towards the end of the demonstration, when a police water cannon hit her in the head.  

Authorities in Cyprus introduced a blanket ban on all protests via a Ministerial Decree in June 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent decrees renewed the ban until the end of February.  

The blanket ban on protests is disproportionate and unlawful. The disregard for human rights is part of a wider pattern in Cyprus, which tightened asylum and migration policies during the year.

Crackdown on civil society 

Civil society organisations are also under attack, with the de-registration and threatened dissolution of KISA, an anti-racism organisation that has been supporting refugees and migrants for over 20 years. On 3 March, a court hearing will rule on the organisation’s appeal against the de-registration decision.

The Ministry of Interior deregistered the association for allegedly failing to comply with new administrative requirements introduced by a legislative change in August 2020.

The decision to de-register is a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of association and raises serious concerns for civil society in Cyprus.

KISA’s staff and volunteers fulfil a crucial role in the defence and promotion of human rights in Cyprus, providing vital support to migrants and refugees.

ENDS

Note to editors:

Amnesty’s report on Cyprus tightening migration policies is available here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210619114745/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur01/2511/2020/en/

 Πηγή: https://web.archive.org/web/20210419002028/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/cyprus-police-violence-must-be-investigated-and-protest-ban-lifted

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

«Ως δαμαί» οξά «ως δαμέ»; - Σπύρος Αρμοστής (Απρίλης 2021)

Άρθρα που δημοσιεύτηκαν στο Παράθυρο του Πολίτη τον Απρίλη του 2021. Μπορούν να εντοπιστούν στη μορφή που δημοσιεύτηκαν πατώντας εδώ (μέρος Α) και εδώ (Μέρος Β).   «Ως δαμαί» οξά «ως δαμέ»; Μέρος Α (19/04/2021) Τους τελευταίους μήνες παρατηρούμε το –πρωτόγνωρο για τα κυπριακά δεδομένα– φαινόμενο να μας απασχολεί στη δημόσια σφαίρα η ορθογράφηση μιας κυπριακής λέξης, και συγκεκριμένα της λέξης [ðamé] (θα χρησιμοποιώ την προφορά της λέξης στο Διεθνές Φωνητικό Αλφάβητο όταν αναφέρομαι στην ίδια τη λέξη ασχέτως ορθογράφησης). Αφορμή αποτέλεσαν οι πορείες διαμαρτυρίας του κινήματος «Ως Δαμέ», το οποίο αποτύπωσε στην ονομασία του το [ðamé] με έψιλον, γεγονός που προκάλεσε όχι μόνο διαδικτυακές συζητήσεις ανάμεσα σε απλό κόσμο, αλλά μέχρι και σχολιασμό από τον υπουργό Παιδείας. Αξίζει λοιπόν να ασχοληθούμε με το φαινόμενο – όχι από πολιτικής σκοπιάς, αλλά μέσα από γλωσσολογική ανάλυση. Πολλά μπορούν να γραφτούν για το θέμα, γι’ αυτό το ζήτημα αυτό έχει σπάσει σε δύο συνέχειες:...
Post a Comment
Read more

On a Society Increasingly Turning Fascistic: The Exploitation of the Pandemic by the Republic of Cyprus

This article was originally published in Greek on this blogspot, on the 21st of November, 2020. The original Greek version can be found here . An update to this article was also published on the 4th of February, 2021. It can be found here .   The article attempts to present a summary of the ways that the Republic of Cyprus has been politically exploiting the covid-19 pandemic since February of 2020. With the employed measures and the conditions of the pandemic continuously changing, in parallel with the general dominance of misinformation, the article is an attempt to paint a more general picture in relation to the authoritarian approach that has been taken by the Cypriot state since the beginning of the pandemic. Its main focus is the documentation of the authoritarian policies that the state has 'legitimized' on the pretext of protecting public health; and which appear to have reached the level of general normalization within broader society. The present text does not aim to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ο Περί Δημόσιων Συγκεντρώσεων και Παρελάσεων Νόμος του 2025 (Νομοσχέδιο)

Νομοσχέδιο που περιορίζει το δικαίωμα στη διαδήλωση και την ειρηνική διαμαρτυρία στην Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία. Μπορεί να εντοπιστεί πατώντας εδώ. Παλαιότερη εκδοχή του νομοσχεδίου που είχε προταθεί το 2024 μπορεί να εντοπιστεί πατώντας εδώ.  
Post a Comment
Read more