LIFEGUARDS at the Nicosia municipal swimming pool yesterday rejected allegations that they were not doing their jobs properly, claiming a man who was thrown out of the pool on Friday had provoked and verbally abused them.
English Cypriot Chrysostomos Tokkos had earlier this week complained that lifeguards at the pool were oblivious to what was going on in the water.
He went back to the pool on Friday for the first time since making the allegations. He said his two sons were somersaulting into the water, as they had done on each of their last 20 trips to the pool, when a guard walked over and asked them to stop.
He claimed the lifeguards then tried to provoke him, but admitted to verbal rudeness.
Yesterday lifeguards at the pool told the Sunday Mail it was Tokkos who had been provoking them.
They said he seemed poised to create trouble from the first minute he came in.
“We knew he was the one who complained, but we didn’t care since we’re only doing our jobs,” they said.
They added the reason he had complained the first time was because the guards had not stopped some children who were messing around.
“The pool was almost empty and they were not really bothering anyone so we left them alone,” they said yesterday.
On Friday, they claimed Tokkos had been looking for trouble.
“He was looking at us and encouraged his sons to somersault into the water.”
“My colleague turned to me and told me to say something, as somersaults are not allowed, but I said, ‘just leave him, he’s trying to provoke us’,” the lifeguard said.
To avoid further confrontation, the guards decided to ask someone else to tell the children to stop. But as soon as one got up to find someone else, the other lifeguard was heard calling Tokkos’ sons to order. The lifeguards claimed Tokkos then responded with a tirade of expletives.
The lifeguard Tokkos was allegedly swearing at was just 16 and tension was running high. His fellow lifeguards said they had managed to hold Tokkos back while police were called.
Tokkos on Friday claimed two police officers had arrived at the scene, taken him into a corner and tried to threaten and intimidate him into leaving.
But lifeguards yesterday claimed Tokkos had told the officers he would make a phone call and sort them out.
An officer snapped back with a warning to drop the threats, the lifeguards said.
Two other officers who arrived later and asked Tokkos to leave were from the Ayios Dhometios precinct, which is responsible for the area.
Yesterday, the lifeguards said Tokkos was banned and would never be allowed in the municipal pool again.
The guards felt he had been unfair to accuse them of not doing their jobs properly, especially when they spent so many hours in the sun watching over thousands of people.
“We get tired too; we need to have a cold drink or eat or go to the toilet too,” they said.
But it’s the lifeguards who get reprimanded every time something happens.
They said many parents left their children unattended to run around and get into mischief or danger while they enjoyed their newspapers and drinks.
While the guards have to keep people in check, there are no rules posted at the swimming pool warning people not to run, dive, push, eat or drink alcohol before swimming.
And another issue that emerged from the incident was the small number of lifeguards on duty at the municipal pool.
On quiet days, there is no problem, but a source told the Sunday Mail that there were days in the summer when 2-3,000 people were crammed in the swimming pool with only three or four lifeguards to keep watch.
“Despite their very best efforts, they are human too and are bound to get tired trying to be vigilant for nine hours continuously,” the source said.
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.
