Latsia residents block access to ‘toxic factory’

LATSIA residents yesterday blocked access to a factory they claim is releasing carcinogenic dichloromethane into the air for a second day. The residents believe pollution from the shoe factory has contributed to the death of eight locals.

Latsia Municipality has expressed its determination to demolish the factory on the grounds that it does not have a town planning licence, while Labour Minister Soteroulla Charalambous announced its emission licence will be revoked.

“They cannot emit gases that are above the allowed limits without having the specific licence,” Charalambous said yesterday.

“The factory in question has a [poor] history with the materials they use to make their products, as we had previous complaints. We could not continue just reporting them, so their licence will be recalled.”

The decision to recall the licence was taken after authorities conducted measurements of the factory emission levels that indicated excessive air pollution.

Residents claim that the sole-producing factory is to blame for the high number of cancer patients in the area and eight cancer-related deaths. Two of the eight cases, the residents continued, involved factory employees.

The factory owners deny pollution is at the high levels claimed by claim. The owner admitted that chloromethane is used on site but that the substance is used in factories throughout the EU.

Meanwhile, the factory’s demolition seems imminent, as the local authority has secured a demolition order from the court. Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis has given his approval for the move.

“Latsia Municipality is the relevant authority and as far as I know they have a demolition order. The municipality can now move with the factory’s demolition,” Sylikiotis said.

The municipality were set to hold a meeting last night to decide the day when the demolition will take place.

“A demolition order was issued two years ago, as the owners have been using the building without the final approval certificate, in violation of the Town Planning Law,” said Latsia Mayor Panayiotis Kyprianou.

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.