‘Revenge attack’ after pool fracas

VIOLENCE continues to rage after the stabbing on Sunday night outside the Nicosia municipal swimming pool, after a brutal ‘revenge’ attack in the heart of the capital.

A gang of ten including a pool lifeguard attacked three young Armenian men at around 8pm on Monday in the city centre near the Cleopatra Hotel.

Police have yet to make any arrests, but a spokesman, confirmed they were looking ten suspects connected with the incident. One of the victims remained in hospital yesterday after suffering severe bone fractures from assailants wielding sticks and crowbars. The spokesman added that the incident “looks to be connected” to the violence at the municipal swimming pool on Sunday, when a lifeguard became embroiled in a large fight with unruly Pontian pool users.

The lifeguard under suspicion worked for the municipality up until Sunday’s incident but has since gone missing and has not returned to work.

It was reported in Politis that the 15-year-old victim of Sunday’s stabbing had arranged with two friends to meet with the lifeguard – believed to be around 20 years old – on Monday to discuss the previous day’s events.

However they were ambushed on the street. With witnesses and victims alike proving reluctant to cooperate, police are appealing for information.

The situation is fast developing into a vendetta – with this the third bout of violence in two days. The original incident was described by eyewitnesses as a brawl involving “easily 40 people” at the pool resulting in the destruction of tables and umbrellas which were used as weapons. Mayor Eleni Mavrou verified reports that the fracas involved Pontians fighting municipal lifeguards.

This was followed by the stabbing of the 15-year-old the same evening in the pool car park, details of which remain unclear. With police still investigating all three incidents, Monday night’s attack seems to suggest this violent sequence of events may not be over.

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.