TWO men described as “dangerous and unpredictable” are still at large after seriously injuring two policemen on Friday.
The incident was followed by a further two attacks on police members that took place in Nicosia and Paphos over the weekend.
In an attack that took place in Nicosia on Saturday night, a 28-year-old foreign man was arrested and remanded for attacking police officers, resisting arrest, public disturbance and drunken conduct.
The Drug Squad had been patrolling the capital when they spotted the man verbally assaulting a number of people in a public car park. They identified themselves as police, but when they asked him to calm down, he attacked the two officers and injured them. The policemen were taken to Nicosia General Hospital where they were treated and discharged. The 28-year-old was arrested, charged and released.
In another assault on Sunday night, a 56-year-old man from the Paphos district was arrested for attacking a uniformed policeman and causing actual bodily harm, resisting arrest, causing public disturbance and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The incident began when a member of police attempted to flag down the man after noticing he was driving erratically. When stopped, the 56-year-old attacked the policeman and injured him.
It later emerged that the man was well over the legally acceptable alcohol limit.
The officer was taken to Paphos General Hospital where he was treated and allowed to go. Panayia Police are investigating the case.
The incidents followed an assault on four members of the Drug Squad and Crime Prevention Unit last Friday in Limassol, which resulted in the serious injury of two officers. The men behind the attack – two brothers aged 23 and 28 – are still at large and a warrant for their arrest has been issued.
They were yesterday described by the Limassol police chief as: “Armed, unpredictable and dangerous.”
Two officers are still in hospital because of the attack, which saw the two brothers use swords against the police after their father’s home had been raided for drugs and weapons. One is in danger of losing his eye and the other of permanent paralysis from the waist down.
The men’s 55-year-old father Andreas Aktas, his 51-year-old wife Lefki and their 15-year-old son also attacked the officers and are currently in police custody.
Justice Minister Sophoclis Sophocleous yesterday called on the public and state to support the police, adding that such cowardly actions only make the police more stubborn.
“We will continue to send the message that there is no turning back; that the handling of crime is a one-way street and needs to be dealt in a deterrent and repressive manner,” the minister pointed out.
“We are living in a new era. Gone are the days when the average Cypriot felt safe, in the meaning that he would leave home and leave the key in the door. Today the public is requesting, justifiably, security, which the police will offer them as it is not only obliged to, it is also willing to do it,” he added.
Asked whether the police officers in Friday’s vicious attack should have used their weapons, Sophocleous said: “If they had used their guns, the police would have been in the dock today and everything would have been reversed.”
“We will not tolerate the police turning into a punch bag. We have made it clear that we would like the police to be friendly and co-operative with the public. But this also means that the police should offer security to the public.”
The International Police Association in Cyprus yesterday issued an announcement strongly condemning the attack.
“We are calling on all members of the public to support the difficult task carried out by police, often placing their members’ lives in danger,” read the announcement.
