By George Psyllides
The authority against racism and discrimination has called on the police to investigate potential racist offences against a French-born Benin footballer by organised fans.
Mickael Pote, 30, has reacted angrily to monkey chants directed at him twice since November and been booked for protesting.
On November 30, fans of champions APOEL directed monkey chants at Pote and the former Dynamo Dresden player applauded before impersonating a monkey by curling his hands towards the side of his body.
Pote was booked by the referee for inciting the crowd but it was APOEL who were later punished for their fans’ behaviour.
The Cyprus FA handed the club a €10,000 fine and closed the stand where the abuse came from for one match.
Pote suffered more monkey chants in early December when Omonia played another fierce rival, Anorthosis Famagusta, and this time he went through the correct channels and told the referee what he could hear from the stands.
An announcement was made over the stadium tannoy, pleading with fans to stop the abuse.
The game finished but afterwards Pote approached the section where the racist chants came from, in an attempt to come face-to-face with those hurling abuse.
The CFA’s judicial committee has not yet discussed the latest incident but it is expected that any punishment would be along the lines of the one imposed on APOEL.
“No arrest has been made and it does not appear there is a … police investigation to locate and arrest the individuals that took part in the racist attacks against he footballer,” Ombudswoman Eliza Savvidou, who also acts as the anti-racism authority, said in a report.
“It is also saddening that there wasn’t even an official statement from a state official condemning the incident,” she said.
Savvidou said that while strict measures are taken to clamp down on such incidents occur at a European and international football level, racism incidents in Cyprus “almost go unnoticed to the extent that one wonders whether binding directions to fight racism in stadiums are enforced.”
“At the same time, to ignore or underestimate such condemnable acts or to turn a blind eye refusing to see the threat of racism, paves the way for reproduction and consolidation of such behaviour,” Savvidou said.
