By Anthony O. Miller
AT LEAST 13 boats and a jet-ski driven by angry water-sports operators crossed the Maritime Security Line (MSL) into Turkish-occupied waters yesterday to protest at marine police attempts to arrest them and confiscate their equipment.
“The police, first thing in the morning, came to Protaras, trying to collect equipment, trying to take people to prison,” George Demetriou, former president of the Cyprus Water Sports Association, told the Cyprus Mail.
The police were attempting to enforce new rules ordered by Communications and Works Minister Leontios Ierodiaconou, moving water-sports rental sites and their sea-access corridors away from the vendors’ accustomed hotel swimming areas, and out to the margins of the beaches.
“They are fuming… The (vendors) in Protaras decided that instead of giving their equipment to police, they would go to Famagusta. They prefer to give everything to Denktash,” he said.
“They took all their equipment, they took their boats. They’ve had enough of this government. They want to find another government. They want to find other beaches to work and feed their families,” Demetriou said.
Marine police officer Antonicos Panayii said. “If they want to go to the Turkish-occupied area, they can do it. We cannot stop them.”
Sarah Russell, spokeswoman for UN forces in Cyprus (Unficyp) said UN troops near the MSL confirmed that shortly after noon yesterday, 13 Greek Cypriot motor-boats and a jet-ski did cross into Turkish-occupation waters.
Two of the boats and a jet-ski sped some 1,700 metres into occupation waters, while a third boat penetrated 1,000 meters into the Turkish zone, Russell said.
Another 15 Greek Cypriot boats later gathered at the MSL, 10 of which later crossed as far as a line of buoys erected by Turkish occupation forces, shouted at crews of Turkish boats standing by, and then withdrew, she said.
Russell said none of the Greek Cypriot boats or their crews were seized or arrested by Turkish forces for breaching the MSL. Cyprus Police and other sources confirmed this scenario.
“We have protested to the Government of Cyprus to express our concern about the increase of violations of the Maritime Security Line. And so, obviously we’re concerned about safety,” Russell said.
“We’ve done our best to highlight where the (MSL) is. The more violations there are, the more concerned we get,” she said.
On hearing some of his members had bolted for the MSL, Demetris Hadjidemetriou, the new president of the Cyprus Water Sports Association, said he raced to Protaras from Limassol, boarded a boat and “managed to bring them all back” into waters controlled by the Republic.
He said when the water-sports operators returned to the Victory Beach area of Protaras, marine police drew up threatening to arrest them if they headed back out to sea, while “land police” threatened to arrest them if they touched shore.
By late afternoon yesterday, the police had backed off, leaving the sea- sports operators pondering their next move, Hadjidemetriou said.
“The police said that if any boats go into the water (today), they will arrest them,” he said. “The strange thing is that we are still planning to meet with the minister (Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis). Normally if you are negotiating something, there is a cease-fire.”
The sea-sports operators’ angry run to the MSL was partly in reaction to their unsuccessful meeting with Ierodiaconou on Wednesday, in which the minister dashed their hopes that he might suspend the new regulations for the rest of this year, and review the need for them over the coming winter.
The new rules are the government’s reaction to at least three jet-ski accidents last year that killed one British tourist and seriously injured three others.
The operators say the new corridors bunch them together far from the seafront hotels, concentrating competition, and forcing tourists to walk great distances from their hotels to rent jet-skis, motor-boats and other sea-sports equipment.
The sea-sports vendors are to meet today with Commerce and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis to try to iron out their differences over new rules.
Yesterday’s incident follows an angry demonstration outside the Presidential Palace on Monday in which three people were arrested after scuffles broke out between protesters and police.
