SEVERAL eye witness accounts and a video tape have revealed a serious lack of planning by police leadership ahead of Friday’s demonstrations in Larnaca, which saw around 25 unarmed and unprotected policemen deployed initially to control more than 100 angry nationalists.
It also emerged yesterday that Larnaca Mayor Andreas Moyseos called Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou three times before Friday to relay the mounting rumours of a violent mob turning up to protest at the Rainbow festival.
Moyseos said yesterday “There were intense rumours circulating that people were planning trouble. They had distributed leaflets to the public.”
He added “From the moment the police were aware that the two events were going to coincide, they should have been moved elsewhere, or the march taken in another direction to ensure there was no contact.”
Instead, one eyewitness said the police allowed the nationalists to approach within striking distance of the Rainbow festival goers, whom they allegedly incited by throwing paint, shouting and hitting with their Greek flags.
Papageorgiou denied having advance warning of the clash yesterday.
However, once the violence did begin, several corroborative eye witness accounts and video clips raise serious questions about the police force’s readiness to handle such situations.
Mike Henderson, a former British policeman with a wealth of riot control experience in the UK said after analysing the video footage yesterday “From what I saw the police officers on the ground were left alone without clear leadership. They (senior police officers) should have understood the potential for trouble was serious and had sufficient numbers.”
As one source said “It was a very uncontrolled situation from the police, they allowed the fascists to come within five metres of us.”
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday that there was a plan in place – to try and manage the crowd by opening a dialogue and following a step by step process to avert violence.
However had this event happened in the UK, Henderson said, there would have been two lines of highly trained and well equipped police keeping the two groups 50 metres apart. “This way they can shout and scream but not do much else.”
The second major problem was a shortage of manpower. Henderson said at least 40 well trained and equipped officers were necessary. As it happened, around 25 unequipped officers met the march.
“I asked two special policemen where the police were and they told me ‘Endaxi en eshi tipota’, meaning there was no-one coming, and there would be no police” said the source.
When they inevitably clashed, a third witness said the police refused requests to confront the nationalists. “The police were horrible to begin with. They turned towards us and were consulting with the racists… When one (of the racists) hit me with a flag I asked the police to intervene and they didn’t.”
When reinforcements with helmets and shields eventually arrived, the video clearly shows them using strong force against the Rainbow crowd while allowing the nationalists to mill around and hurl abuse.
A third source, who was one only seven arrested at the event, further highlighting the police’s inability to manage the situation. “How could it be that festival goers were in hospital and arrested when I didn’t see any racists arrested?”
The answer, says Henderson is that (based on the video) “They were not physically in any sort of position to cuff, arrest and get them into custody. I saw no method, cohesion or command, and having the car parked there was a big mistake. I don’t know how that survived.”
More arrests may follow, however, as the police also filmed the event, and are analysing video evidence in order to identify the person who stabbed the Turkish Cypriot musician.
