Immigrants suspect ruse to ship them back to Lebanon

THERE was fresh trouble off the old port of Limassol yesterday on a boat where 266 illegal immigrants are being held under police guard.

The immigrants, mainly Pakistanis and Kurds, were rescued from the sea off Paphos on Wednesday.

Yesterday the trouble began after they were told they would be moved to a larger boat.

The immigrants thought the police were trying to load them on a boat that would take them back to Lebanon, where they began their journey.

They refused to be transferred and some threatened to set themselves on fire, while others used glass to show police they were ready to cut themselves if any effort was made to ship them back.

Assistant Police Chief Nathanael Papageorgiou boarded the ship and explained to the immigrants that they were being transferred to a larger boat where there was more space and better facilities for their personal hygiene.

After that the immigrants agreed to board the small cruise ship.

On Friday they also threatened to mutilate themselves, protesting about the living conditions on the two vessels where they were being held.

Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou has called on Lebanon to enforce a bilateral agreement providing that illegal immigrants must return to the country they came from, once this has been proved.

But Beirut disputes claims that the immigrants set out from Lebanon and has so far rejected the Cyprus request.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.